title: Allergenicity assessment strategy for novel food proteins and protein sources.
abstract: To solve the future food insecurity problem, alternative and sustainable protein sources (e.g. insects, rapeseed, fava bean and algae) are now being explored for the production of food and feed. To approve these novel protein sources for future food a comprehensive risk assessment is needed according to the European food legislation. Allergenicity risk assessment might pose some major difficulties, since detailed guidance on how to assess the allergenic potential of novel foods is not available. At present, the approach relies mostly on the guidance of allergenicity assessment for genetically modified (GM) plant foods. The most recent one was proposed by EFSA (2010 and 2011); "weight-of-evidence approach". However this guidance is difficult to interpret, not completely applicable or validated for novel foods and therefore needs some adjustments. In this paper we propose a conceptual strategy which is based on the "weight-of-evidence approach" for food derived from GM plants and other strategies that were previously published in the literature. This strategy will give more guidance on how to assess the allergenicity of novel food proteins and protein sources.
authors.affiliation: TNO, Utrechtseweg 48, 3704 HE Zeist, The Netherlands; Dep. Dermatology/Allergology, University Medical Centre Utrecht (UMCU), P.O. Box 85500, Internal mail no G02.124, 3508 GA, Utrecht, The Netherlands. Electronic address: Kitty.verhoeckx@tno.nl.
authors.forename: Kitty
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Verhoeckx
authors.affiliation: Dep. Dermatology/Allergology, University Medical Centre Utrecht (UMCU), P.O. Box 85500, Internal mail no G02.124, 3508 GA, Utrecht, The Netherlands. Electronic address: h.c.h.broekman-4@umcutrecht.nl.
authors.forename: Henrike
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Broekman
authors.affiliation: Dep. Dermatology/Allergology, University Medical Centre Utrecht (UMCU), P.O. Box 85500, Internal mail no G02.124, 3508 GA, Utrecht, The Netherlands. Electronic address: A.C.Knulst@UmcUtrecht.nl.
authors.forename: André
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Knulst
authors.affiliation: TNO, Utrechtseweg 48, 3704 HE Zeist, The Netherlands; Dep. Dermatology/Allergology, University Medical Centre Utrecht (UMCU), P.O. Box 85500, Internal mail no G02.124, 3508 GA, Utrecht, The Netherlands. Electronic address: Geert.houben@tno.nl.
authors.forename: Geert
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Houben
mesh_terms: D000485:Allergens / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology; D000818:Animals; D003257:Consumer Product Safety / Q000592:standards; D003429:Cross Reactions; D005512:Food Hypersensitivity / Q000209:etiology* / Q000276:immunology; D059022:Food Safety; D030841:Food, Genetically Modified / Q000009:adverse effects*; D017408:Guidelines as Topic; D006801:Humans; D007159:Immunologic Tests / Q000592:standards; D014674:Plant Proteins, Dietary / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology; D030821:Plants, Genetically Modified / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology; D018570:Risk Assessment
chemical_list: D000485:Allergens; D014674:Plant Proteins, Dietary
keywords: Allergenicity assessment; Cross-reactivity; De novo sensitisation; Novel food protein