Selecting the right method or test kit for your food allergen testing

12 July 2023 | Marie-Anne Clarke, Laboratory Supervisor and Helen Arrowsmith, Regulatory Affairs Manager and Allergen Specialist

Food business operators must employ food allergen management systems to mitigate or remove potential sources of contamination and minimise allergen cross-contact risks. The control measures employed must be validated, verified, monitored and documented.

Within food allergen management, food allergen testing serves several purposes, including:

Demonstrating that controls and procedures in place to manage food allergens are working (such as validation and verification of cleaning to remove food allergens)
Providing evidence for compliance with claims
Assisting in investigations such as those into potential allergen cross-contact
Determining the food allergen status of raw ingredients

When selecting a food allergen test, you need to understand what you are testing for, why that specific test is being done, and on what type of sample

Worked example – selecting the right method for detecting milk cross-contact

Several tests are available for detecting constituents of milk. In the example table below, three different options are shown for comparison – an ELISA method for the detection of casein, an ELISA method for the detection of beta-lactoglobulin (BLG), and an ion chromatography method for the detection of lactose.

	Option 1	Option 2	Option 3
Test method	ELISA	ELISA	Ion chromatography
Test specificity	Casein	Beta-lactoglobulin	Lactose
Test measuring range	2-25 mg/kg casein	2.5-40 mg/kg BLG	20-100 mg/kg lactose
Measuring range in terms of skimmed milk powder (SMP)	10-125 mg/kg SMP	111-1778 mg/kg SMP	40-200 mg/kg SMP

To select the most appropriate testing option, the nature of the milk contaminant of interest should be considered. For example, whey powder has a high BLG content, making the ELISA test for BLG the most suitable choice if whey powder is the contaminant to be analysed for.

Skimmed milk powder (SMP), however, contains 20% casein, 2.25% BLG, and 50% lactose. Based on these proportions, it might seem like testing for lactose would be the most appropriate choice if SMP is the contaminant to be analysed for; however...

The sensitivity of the test needs factoring in, too. While SMP contains more lactose than casein, taking the sensitivity of the testing methods into account reveals that casein is actually the most appropriate marker for SMP in this example. Therefore, an ELISA test for casein would be the best choice in this case if SMP is the contaminant to be analysed for.

Scientist testing milk in laboratory. Scientist is pouring milk into glass jar

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End-product food allergen testing (including for other substances that cause food hypersensitivity) can to contribute to food safety through validation of your control processes, where feasible. While food allergen testing is an important part of any allergen management system, it is important to understand its limitations, select the right test for the application, and interpret results carefully (we can help with all of this).

If you need any information or support, get in touch.

Including food allergen testing, we provide a range of services to support your food allergen management needs, including; food allergen training courses, testing, and practical support with cleaning validation, hygienic design, food safety management systems, labelling and legislation.

About Marie-Anne Clarke

Marie-Anne is the lead contact for the Allergen Testing and Biochemistry Molecular Biology Teams. She uses her knowledge of biochemistry and molecular techniques, as well as experience working with food allergens and DNA techniques, to provide advice and consultancy on food allergen detection and species authenticity, as well as GMO detection.

Prior to joining Campden BRI, Marie-Anne obtained a BSc degree in Anatomical Science with her final year project on sequencing and characterising a novel gene in bovine cartilage. Marie-Anne joined Campden BRI in 2003, after two years in retail, initially as a molecular biology technician working on fish species identification, as well as conducting assays for detection of food allergens using ELISAs.

In 2014 Marie-Anne was appointed Team Leader of the Food Allergens Team, providing technical contract services in food allergen detection, interpretation of testing results and consultancy on testing for food allergens and cleaning validation. In 2020, Marie-Anne became manager of the Biochemistry Molecular Biology Team, who offer contract authenticity analysis services for fish and meat speciation and detection of GMOs.

About Helen Arrowsmith

Helen is a Regulatory Affairs Manager and Allergen Specialist who uses her knowledge and expertise to provide advice, training and consultancy on all aspects of UK and harmonised EU legislation, as well as food allergen analysis, cleaning validation and management. Helen presents on scheduled and tailored training courses on food law and food allergens, and oversees the production of our Food Law Alert.

After her PhD, Helen joined Campden BRI in 2004 when she spent a year as Technical Support Officer in the Food Composition Section. The next nine years were spent in the Biochemistry Section, where Helen managed the provision of technical contract services in the area of food allergen detection, provided interpretation of testing results, consultancy, research and advice on food allergen testing.

In 2014, Helen moved to our Regulatory team where she has gained comprehensive understanding and experience of food law, not just relating to food allergens.

Helen has managed various research projects; in 2023 she supervised and contributed to a Review of the literature and guidance on food allergen cleaning for the Food Standards Agency . Helen has also co-authored two guidance documents for the food industry on ‘Validation of cleaning to remove food allergens’ (Campden BRI Guideline 59) and ‘Food allergens: practical risk analysis, testing and action levels’ (Campden BRI Guideline 71).