Food-Sourced allergens: do new food ingredients mean new allergens?

摘要

Global food availability has been steadily increasing, due to local production efficiencies, improvements in delivery logistics and not the least from the development of new foods and new/ novel food Ingredients; as a result, there is an increased ability to provide a wider diversity of foods to a greater number of people. The combination of new foods and a new population of naTve consumers might suggest that a greater number of people will report adverse reactions, specifically a potential IncreaseIn allergic reactions. While more than 170 foods have been reported to cause allergic reactions, there are several major groups of foods that cause the majority of allergens. The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) found that the majority of allergenicresponses are derived from cereals containing gluten, milk and dairy products, eggs, nuts, peanuts, soy, fish, crustaceans, mollusks, celery, lupin, sesame, mustard and sulphites (1). The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) similarly states that milk, eggs, fish, crustacean shellfish, tree nuts, peanuts, wheat and soybeans account for 90% of the allergic reactions to foods, such that foods must be clearly labeled to contain, or be derived from, any of these ingredients (2). While these foods are known to produce allergic reactions in sensitive individuals, novel foods may also produce reactions in sensitive individuals (e.g., components in insect-based protein powders may be perceived by the immune system to be the same components in crustaceans and therefore "cross-react" in individuals with allergies to crustaceans) (3).