6 replies to this topic

[ArnoldJonsonn]

Hi Food Safety Community, I was wondering if anyone would be able to provide me some insight as to what they believe to the best allergen testing kits are on the market/used at your own facilities. I am relatively new to the food industry and was wondering if you guys could give me some ideas as to what companies I should check out and maybe the value that you find in their products to assist me in my research for picking out a viable testing kit.

 

[Scampi]

My only experience was with Neogen for egg and mustard--worked as promised for both. We validated against lab results at the same time

[Charles.C]

 

Hi Food Safety Community,

 

I was wondering if anyone would be able to provide me some insight as to what they believe to the best allergen testing kits are on the market/used at your own facilities. I am relatively new to the food industry and was wondering if you guys could give me some ideas as to what companies I should check out and maybe the value that you find in their products to assist me in my research for picking out a viable testing kit.

 

 

Hi Arnold,

 

Yr query is rather wide scope.

 

What kind of  food business/production are you involved with ?

[ArnoldJonsonn]

I work in prepared meals(frozen meals) production, but my previous jobs didn't require allergen testing as it didn't deal with the handling of food. That being said, that's why I am reaching out to see what other people in the industry are using so that I can come back to my boss with what I find to be the "industry standard" and then start our decision making process from there for our new safety monitoring system. This is kind of a task I was thrown and don't really have any idea where to start but I managed to find this forums so I was hoping it would be a good place to reach out.

[Charles.C]

I work in prepared meals(frozen meals) production, but my previous jobs didn't require allergen testing as it didn't deal with the handling of food. That being said, that's why I am reaching out to see what other people in the industry are using so that I can come back to my boss with what I find to be the "industry standard" and then start our decision making process from there for our new safety monitoring system. This is kind of a task I was thrown and don't really have any idea where to start but I managed to find this forums so I was hoping it would be a good place to reach out.

 

Hi Arnold,

 

Thks reply.

 

afaik there is no "industry standard". There are several well-established Companies offering competitive Products.

 

For a  particular case, the options available relate to factors such as (a) the relevant FS Standard (if any), (b) what specific allergens you wish to test for, (c) what level of sensitivity required, (d) cost.

 

In addition to Post 2, some basic ideas / Products here (there are many other allergen threads) -

 

https://www.ifsqn.co...ns/#entry135520

 

https://www.ifsqn.co...ng/#entry138246

[emportllc]

Hi Arnold-

 

There are a number of very good kits out there, but the "best" kits for one company won't necessarily be equally good for another. Factors include: price, ease of use / equipment required, allergens available, sensitivity, cross-reactivity, whether you need product and/or surface testing, and how complicated it will be to validate the kit for your specific matrices. 

 

There are plenty of cases where any of the kits available will do just fine. And there are some cases where no kit on the market is going to be effective - for example, attempting to use a soy kit to detect soy lecithin. 

 

There are also kits that do not test for specific allergens, but just for (relatively) low levels of protein on surfaces. These can play an important role in allergen management, too. 

 

It would be helpful to know more about your workplace. Which allergens are in some but not all of your products? What form of allergen (powder, raw material, etc), what types of products? Are there allergens you don't work with - but your suppliers do? Prior to your arrival, has your facility done any sort of allergen monitoring?

 

Happy to chat more if helpful.

 

Emily

[dfreund]

Hygiena has a very reasonably priced total protein swab.

About $2 USD.

A block incubator is needed for about $200 one time.