Allergen Test for Toasted Sesame Oil
We bottle Toasted Sesame Oil and with Sesame becoming a recognized allergen in January 2023, I am having difficulty in finding a test that will prove affective sanitation after a production run; and that will work with oil. I have tried AgraStrip Sesame Test Kit and received false negative prior to sanitation. I have read the material on Reveal 3-D and it states it won't work with Sesame Oil.
I need help finding a solution, as SQF states I need an allergen specific test.
Anyone have any suggestions or answers?
Before you go too far down that path, and assuming that you are in the US, you need to consider if your oil is highly refined. If it is highly refined it is not considered an allergen under FALCPA.
The oil is NOT refined, only toasted and does contain allergenic proteins.
Yes, in USA. I have reached out to several testing companies to see what is available for our environment but have gotten no responses
We bottle Toasted Sesame Oil and with Sesame becoming a recognized allergen in January 2023, I am having difficulty in finding a test that will prove affective sanitation after a production run; and that will work with oil. I have tried AgraStrip Sesame Test Kit and received false negative prior to sanitation. I have read the material on Reveal 3-D and it states it won't work with Sesame Oil.
I need help finding a solution, as SQF states I need an allergen specific test.
Anyone have any suggestions or answers?
You are right that the Reveal 3-D kit does not work for sesame oil because almost to no allergenic protein are present that the strip can detect. But perhaps a external lab can perform an analysis like that?
Only one side note;
I think Reveal 3-d assumes that this test had no effect on refined oil, but I'm not sure if this applies also for not refined oil.
We had the oil tested and it came back <2.5ppm,
1- Do we need to declare it as an allergen?
2- If so, can we avoid testing after each production run if we prove affective cleaning methods are in place?
https://www.romerlab...same-test-kits/
A) YES
B) Labelling does not replace good GMPS----when it come to allergens, you're way better off to ALWAYS swab between production runs to be sure so that's a NO from me re: your question----if you're not swabbing how do you know your cleaning is effective?????
The problem I am running into is there is no test that will work in a cooking oil environment.
I know the oil is positive for allergen but the test prior to cleaning is a false negative due to the oil
We had the oil tested and it came back <2.5ppm,
1- Do we need to declare it as an allergen?
2- If so, can we avoid testing after each production run if we prove affective cleaning methods are in place?
What is the level of detection for the 2.5 ppm test that the lab gave you? 2.5? Are you now saying that there actually isn't any protein in the oil / or not detectable?
your agristrip has a sensitivity of 5ppm. So its not that it was a false negative, but the protein amount present was outside the tests capability.
on the bright side, If your oil has less than 2.5 ppm protein it should be fairly easy to achieve a non-detectable result.
Id try the test that scampi suggested. it seems to be the most sensitive. contact FARRP they know as much as anyone on allergens and allergen testing. they have always been helpful for me.
We had the oil tested and it came back <2.5ppm,
1- Do we need to declare it as an allergen?
2- If so, can we avoid testing after each production run if we prove affective cleaning methods are in place?
Hi sedinger,
You should ask the lab how they avoided the possibility of a false negative ? (eg using positive/negative controls).
If you only have one product which is labelled as an allergen, why is cleaning validation for that specific allergen required ? (there is no cross-contamination)
Heating does not destroy the allergenicity of sesame and so cooked food containing sesame cannot be viewed as safe.
Sesame oil should be regarded as extremely risky because it is almost certain that it will be unrefined and therefore contain the proteins that trigger allergic reactions
Sesame Allergy, Anaphylaxis Campaign,2022.pdf 199.41KB 6 downloads
*Studies show that most people with specific food protein allergies can safely eat highly refined oils made from those foods (examples include highly refined peanut and soybean oil). However, sesame oil is not highly refined and should be avoided by people who are allergic to sesame.
Sesame allergies may not receive as much publicity as peanut allergies, but the reactions can be just as serious. Allergic reactions to sesame seeds or sesame oil can cause anaphylaxis.
https://www.healthli...esame-allergies
Sesame Seed Oil AllergySesame is becoming a more common food allergy in recent years, and severe allergic reactions can happen.
Sesame seed oil is different from many of the other vegetable oils. It's often used to flavor food because of its rich taste. For this reason, sesame seed oil is typically crude and contains high levels of sesame proteins.
https://www.verywell...king-oils-82883
General Sesame -
https://www.jdsupra....-major-2526925/
We had the oil tested and it came back <2.5ppm,
1- Do we need to declare it as an allergen?
2- If so, can we avoid testing after each production run if we prove affective cleaning methods are in place?
You should talk to your lab about LOD (limit of detection). Every lab test has a threshold that they use as a cutoff, where they say anything below this is considered negative or less than (<) the cutoff value because it's impossible measure all the way down to zero. The less than of this result makes me think that this could be one of those cases where it is below the measurable limit, but the lab legally can't call it zero because it's impossible to measure to zero.
Before I was in food, I was in lab testing.
You should talk to your lab about LOD (limit of detection). Every lab test has a threshold that they use as a cutoff, where they say anything below this is considered negative or less than (<) the cutoff value because it's impossible measure all the way down to zero. The less than of this result makes me think that this could be one of those cases where it is below the measurable limit, but the lab legally can't call it zero because it's impossible to measure to zero.
Before I was in food, I was in lab testing.
Hi Spidey,
There is also the quantity LOQ which is strangely often not discussed in quantitative statements.
Hopefully the OP realized that <X often means "undetected" .