Current Perspectives and Recommendations for the Development of Mass Spectrometry Methods for the Determination of Allergens in Foods

Abstract

Allergen detection and quantification is an essential part of allergen management as practiced by food manufacturers. Recently, protein MS methods (in particular, multiple reaction monitoring experiments) have begun to be adopted by the allergen detection community to provide an alternative technique to ELISA and PCR methods. MS analysis of proteins in foods provides additional challenges to the analyst, both in terms of experimental design and methodology: (1) choice of analyte, including multiplexing to simultaneously detect several biologically relevant molecules able to trigger allergic reactions; (2) choice of processing stable peptide markers for different target analytes that should be placed in publicly available databases; (3) markers allowing quantification (e.g., through standard addition or isotopically labeled peptide standards); (4) optimization of protease digestion protocols to ensure reproducible and robust method development; and (5) effective validation of methods and harmonization of results through the use of naturally incurred reference materials spanning several types of food matrix.

Common Amino Acid Subsequences in a Universal Proteome—Relevance for Food Science

“…The unique character of peptides (presence of a fragment in a single precursor) is emphasized as a major advantage in analyses that rely on the identification of protein fragments [ 131 ]. The rapid increase in the number of protein sequences annotated in UniProt [ 21 , 22 ], NCBI [ 132 , 133 ] or Allergome [ 116 , 117 ] makes this recommendation increasingly difficult to fulfill.…”

MoniQA: an update of the European Union funded Network of Excellence in 2011

“…However, while best practice and validation criteria are relatively well established for ELISA methods, no such guidelines exist for MS. A workshop held at IFR (UK) in September 2010 involving MoniQA and other key stakeholders established the current state‐of the‐art for allergen analysis by MS with the aim of developing best practice guidelines. A paper describing the outcomes of the workshop has been accepted for publication (Johnson et al , 2011).…”

LC-tandem mass spectrometry as a screening tool for multiple detection of allergenic ingredients in complex foods

“…On the other hand, an analysis with a higher level of specificity might be required for confirmation of the results obtained. In the last few years mass spectrometry based methods [6], [7] have been considered a promising analytical strategy for food allergens monitoring thanks to the advances made in this technology that enables the reduction of the risk of false positives compared to ELISA methods.…”

“…In addition the use of such antibody based kits presents limitations in running multiplex analysis. Although a number of papers have been published in this field using Mass Spectrometry as a screening tool for allergens detection in foods [7]- [15], only a few of them are directed to the simultaneous determination of several classes of food allergens in food commodities [12], [16-ABSTRACT In the present investigation, an LC-MS method for sensitive multiplex detection of five allergenic ingredients in a processed food matrix is presented. Cookie was chosen as complex food model and was incurred with egg, milk, soy, hazelnuts and peanuts before baking.…”