Legume proteins are widely used as
food ingredients, but only some
(soybean, lupin, and peanut) must be declared under consumer safety
regulations to protect allergy sufferers. It is not yet mandatory
to declare pea proteins as allergens even though they are predicted
to be allergenic based on cross-reactivity in sensitized people. The
processing of legume proteins can modify their allergenic properties
and hence the need for specific and precise methods for the detection
of all major legume allergens. There are many commercially available
tests for known food allergens but not for ingredients that are yet
to be classified as allergenic. We therefore generated sets of pea-specific
antibodies targeting globulins to be used in a multiplex assay for
the simultaneous detection of soybean, lupin, peanut, and pea proteins.
We focused on the 7S globulin family, which is the least conserved
among the four legumes, allowing the specific detection of proteins
from each species. Having confirmed the specificity and sensitivity
of the multiplex assay, we evaluated different processing steps for
proteins rich in pea globulins to demonstrate the impact of food processing
on antibody binding. Our sensitive multiplex assay provides a fast
and reliable method for the specific detection of soybean, lupin,
peanut, and pea allergens and is therefore ideal for food safety and
authenticity testing applications.