title: Commercialized rapid immunoanalytical tests for determination of allergenic food proteins: an overview.
abstract: Food allergies have become an important health issue especially in industrialized countries. Undeclared allergenic ingredients or the presence of "hidden" allergens because of contamination during the food production process pose great health risks to sensitised individuals. The EU directive for food labelling lists allergenic foods that have to be declared on food products by the manufacturers. The list includes gluten-containing cereals, crustaceans, eggs, fish, peanuts, soybeans, milk, various nuts (e.g. almond, hazelnut, and walnut, etc.), celery, mustard, sesame seeds, lupin, and molluscs. Reliable methods for detection and quantification of food allergens are needed that can be applied in a fast and easy-to-use manner, are portable, and need only limited technical equipment. This review focuses on the latest developments in food allergen analysis with special emphasis on fast immunoanalytical methods such as rapid enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA), lateral-flow immunochromatographic assays (LFA) and dipstick tests. Emerging technologies such as immunochemical microarrays and biosensors are also discussed and their application to food allergen analysis is reviewed. Finally, a comprehensive overview of rapid immunochemical test kits that are currently available commercially is given in tabular form.
authors.affiliation: Dept. IFA-Tulln, Center for Analytical Chemistry, Christian Doppler Pilot Laboratory for Rapid Test Systems for Allergenic Food Contaminants, University of Natural Resources and Applied Life Sciences Vienna, Konrad Lorenz Strasse 20, 3430 Tulln, Austria.
authors.forename: Patricia
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Schubert-Ullrich
authors.forename: Judith
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Rudolf
authors.forename: Parisa
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Ansari
authors.forename: Brigitte
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Galler
authors.forename: Manuela
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Führer
authors.forename: Alexandra
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Molinelli
authors.forename: Sabine
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Baumgartner
mesh_terms: D000485:Allergens / Q000032:analysis*; D005512:Food Hypersensitivity; D007118:Immunoassay / Q000379:methods*; D011933:Reagent Kits, Diagnostic
chemical_list: D000485:Allergens; D011933:Reagent Kits, Diagnostic