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Current (Food) Allergenic Risk Assessment: Is It Fit for Novel Foods? Status Quo and Identification of Gaps
Author(s) -
Mazzucchelli Gabriel,
Holzhauser Thomas,
Cirkovic Velickovic Tanja,
DiazPerales Araceli,
Molina Elena,
Roncada Paola,
Rodrigues Pedro,
Verhoeckx Kitty,
HoffmannSommergruber Karin
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
molecular nutrition and food research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.495
H-Index - 131
eISSN - 1613-4133
pISSN - 1613-4125
DOI - 10.1002/mnfr.201700278
Subject(s) - risk assessment , context (archaeology) , food allergy , risk analysis (engineering) , novel food , environmental health , microbiology and biotechnology , status quo , identification (biology) , population , food allergens , food products , exposure assessment , food safety , business , allergy , medicine , food science , biology , computer science , immunology , political science , paleontology , botany , computer security , law
Food allergies are recognized as a global health concern. In order to protect allergic consumers from severe symptoms, allergenic risk assessment for well‐known foods and foods containing genetically modified ingredients is installed. However, population is steadily growing and there is a rising need to provide adequate protein‐based foods, including novel sources, not yet used for human consumption. In this context safety issues such as a potential increased allergenic risk need to be assessed before marketing novel food sources. Therefore, the established allergenic risk assessment for genetically modified organisms needs to be re‐evaluated for its applicability for risk assessment of novel food proteins. Two different scenarios of allergic sensitization have to be assessed. The first scenario is the presence of already known allergenic structures in novel foods. For this, a comparative assessment can be performed and the range of cross‐reactivity can be explored, while in the second scenario allergic reactions are observed toward so far novel allergenic structures and no reference material is available. This review summarizes the current analytical methods for allergenic risk assessment, highlighting the strengths and limitations of each method and discussing the gaps in this assessment that need to be addressed in the near future.