Environmental allergen testing kits
Products: 1. A acidic sauce (pH <4.6) containing soy sauce cooked to 205F for >5 min. 2. An acidic sauce (pH <4.6) containing Parmesan cheese cooked to 200F for >5 min.
What I've tried so far: We sent our products to Neogen to see if the Reveal 3D kits would work - they didn't. Hypothetically we could test for sesame as well in the sauce containing soy sauce - which Neogen labs tried but that didn't work either.
Romer labs AgraStrip will also not work according to my email correspondence with them.
We don't have a lab onsite and wanted to use a kit that would allow for in-house testing.
Question: Has anyone found an allergen testing kit that can be used for environmental allergen monitoring.
My next plan is to contact FARRP/UNL research center and our 3rd party lab. If anyone else has any suggestions, I would love to hear them.
Hygiena do some allergen swabs. I haven't used their allergen tests myself but have noticed others on the forum mentioning it. May not be suitable but perhaps worth enquiring
Products: 1. A acidic sauce (pH <4.6) containing soy sauce cooked to 205F for >5 min. 2. An acidic sauce (pH <4.6) containing Parmesan cheese cooked to 200F for >5 min.
What I've tried so far: We sent our products to Neogen to see if the Reveal 3D kits would work - they didn't. Hypothetically we could test for sesame as well in the sauce containing soy sauce - which Neogen labs tried but that didn't work either.
Romer labs AgraStrip will also not work according to my email correspondence with them.
We don't have a lab onsite and wanted to use a kit that would allow for in-house testing.
Question: Has anyone found an allergen testing kit that can be used for environmental allergen monitoring.
My next plan is to contact FARRP/UNL research center and our 3rd party lab. If anyone else has any suggestions, I would love to hear them.
Hi KfromIA,
I have a feeling I'm not really understanding your needs. You are sending your finished goods out for allergen testing, but the testing methods done by the labs aren't detecting presence of allergens? Is there a specific reason as to why they don't work? From the post, it sounds like you also want to swab your equipment and/or be able to test your finished goods in house, but I'm not understanding why the analyzing methods don't work for your needs. Neogen is pretty well recognized, so I'm not sure if there are other companies that make kits which would be any more suited to your application than those. However, I can't say for sure, since I'd need more information.
Hi KfromIA,
I have a feeling I'm not really understanding your needs. You are sending your finished goods out for allergen testing, but the testing methods done by the labs aren't detecting presence of allergens? Is there a specific reason as to why they don't work? From the post, it sounds like you also want to swab your equipment and/or be able to test your finished goods in house, but I'm not understanding why the analyzing methods don't work for your needs. Neogen is pretty well recognized, so I'm not sure if there are other companies that make kits which would be any more suited to your application than those. However, I can't say for sure, since I'd need more information.
Due to our high cooking temperatures and allergen items (soy sauce being a hydrolyzed protein), allergen tests like Reveal 3D and Agrastrips may not detect allergens on surfaces even if they were there present.
I have spoken with my 3rd party lab sales rep. She is going to talk with the lab and see what their suggestions are to figure out a way to verify/validate our cleaning. So one potential idea. Have them come out to the plant. After an allergen product is ran - test the different surfaces using various test kits to see if one of them can detect the allergen that we know is there.
what you really need is someone to validate that there are NO PROTEINS left post processing by the very nature of your process..........................asking for someone to create a validation for the equipment in the form of a swab sounds like a redundant step.
If you can prove that any allergens are destroyed by the process, then you never need to swab for them again ----your soy sauce would be fermented, yes?
"The overall conclusion drawn is that processing does not completely abolish the allergenic potential of allergens. Currently, only fermentation and hydrolysis may have potential to reduce allergenicity to such an extent that symptoms will not be elicited, while other methods might be promising but need more data. Literature on the effect of processing on allergenic potential and the ability to induce sensitisation is scarce. This is an important issue since processing may impact on the ability of proteins to cause the acquisition of allergic sensitisation, and the subject should be a focus of future research. Also, there remains a need to develop robust and integrated methods for the risk assessment of food allergenicity.
what you really need is someone to validate that there are NO PROTEINS left post processing by the very nature of your process..........................asking for someone to create a validation for the equipment in the form of a swab sounds like a redundant step.
If you can prove that any allergens are destroyed by the process, then you never need to swab for them again ----your soy sauce would be fermented, yes?
"The overall conclusion drawn is that processing does not completely abolish the allergenic potential of allergens. Currently, only fermentation and hydrolysis may have potential to reduce allergenicity to such an extent that symptoms will not be elicited, while other methods might be promising but need more data. Literature on the effect of processing on allergenic potential and the ability to induce sensitisation is scarce. This is an important issue since processing may impact on the ability of proteins to cause the acquisition of allergic sensitisation, and the subject should be a focus of future research. Also, there remains a need to develop robust and integrated methods for the risk assessment of food allergenicity.
Thanks Scampi. That makes so much sense. I will look into getting this done.
Scampi - you were right.
FARRP/UNL Research center got back to me already. (Side note: I love people/organizations that are timely/prompt) For the sauce with the soy sauce – they said we don’t have an allergenic risk because the proteins in soy sauce are extensive degraded to a mixture of amino acids and short peptides.
However. For the sauce with the parmesan cheese. They recommend we use Neogen Reveal 3D on our surfaces after we’ve done our cleaning. Then when the next product is ran after the allergen product – send a sample of that product for testing using Neogen Veratox for Total Milk. Do this process two times. If the results come out negative on both, our cleaning process is validated. Then continue to verify our SSOP cleaning protocol.
Beautiful!!!!!
I cannot stress enough how important it is to research your finished goods.........you'd be amazed at the research that has been done by PHd students! Knowledge is power and 1/2 a day on google scholar is a boon to your process knowledge
Now armed with the knowledge that we don't need to do any extra cleaning and testing with our product containing soy sauce, I'm still conflicted as to whether to keep our allergen policies for the soy sauce. Specifically while it is being stored before being used (allergen labeling, segregation, etc.). I'm worried about what the auditors will say when they come in. I know I have sufficient evidence but it's still a concern.
So how do you deal with auditors when you have a product that under law has to be labeled as an allergen but you have evidence (scientific article and an email from FARRP stating it doesn't pose a risk).
a/k/a what do you do when policies/legislation haven't caught up to science.
Also any advice from a SQF standpoint. I plan on showing this evidence in my risk assessment - 2.8.1.5. Do I need to do anything else?
Thank you for everyone's help.
Now armed with the knowledge that we don't need to do any extra cleaning and testing with our product containing soy sauce, I'm still conflicted as to whether to keep our allergen policies for the soy sauce. Specifically while it is being stored before being used (allergen labeling, segregation, etc.). I'm worried about what the auditors will say when they come in. I know I have sufficient evidence but it's still a concern.
So how do you deal with auditors when you have a product that under law has to be labeled as an allergen but you have evidence (scientific article and an email from FARRP stating it doesn't pose a risk).
a/k/a what do you do when policies/legislation haven't caught up to science.
Also any advice from a SQF standpoint. I plan on showing this evidence in my risk assessment - 2.8.1.5. Do I need to do anything else?
Thank you for everyone's help.
Hi KfromIA,
Now that I truly understand your issue, I would still keep the ingredients themselves segregated in the proper storage for allergens. In the event someone uses these ingredients in a way that would pose an allergen risk (for example putting into a product that would not go through the same processes - and might still have detectable levels of protein in the finished goods), you minimize the possibility of this happening.
We use soy lecithin in our facility. The incoming ingredients are labeled as an allergen, the product label says product contains soy, and the finished goods are labeled with an allergen sticker on the pallet. However, we know that testing results in soy will be below detectable levels due to the nature of lecithin (so allergen proteins aren't considered to be present). We still do conduct allergen swabbing and ATP swabbing of the line to verify. I can't speak for SQF, but this has satisfied BRC.