Food allergens and processing – review of recent results

Food allergens are more and more important for limitation of acceptance of foods by consumers that are sensitized to them. The presence of specific commodities in processing plant influences also the regulation of food packaging. Objective of the paper is to provide overview of recent results (positive or negative) in effort to de-allergize the processed foods. The existing literature and own research results are reviewed and compared and future trends are proposed. The recent results of food processing show that there are methods how to influence the allergenicity and lower the reaction of consumers. The paper reviews the successful and negative cases of food processing: thermal treatment, enzymatic reaction, fermentation, high pressure treatment, ionization, UV irradiation, polymerization of proteins, ultrafiltration and oxidation. The special emphasize is devoted to the deactivation trials of the carrot, celery and apple juices and main allergens Dau c 1, Api g 1 and Mal d 1 that these juices contain. The most promising method de-allergization of foods is the treatment by using proteolytic enzymes together with some physical methods (heating or high pressure). Recently, methods based on oxidative reactions of fruit/vegetable juices were described, that can be enhanced by high pressure treatment.