Peanut Allergenicity: An Insight into Its Mitigation Using Thermomechanical Processing

Abstract

Peanuts are the seeds of a legume crop grown for nuts and oil production. Peanut allergy has gained significant attention as a public health issue due to its increasing prevalence, high rate of sensitization, severity of the corresponding allergic symptoms, cross-reactivity with other food allergens, and lifelong persistence. Given the importance of peanuts in several sectors, and taking into consideration the criticality of their high allergic potential, strategies aiming at mitigating their allergenicity are urgently needed. In this regard, most of the processing methods used to treat peanuts are categorized as either thermal or thermomechanical techniques. The purpose of this review is to provide the reader with an updated outlook of the peanut’s allergens, their mechanisms of action, the processing methods as applied to whole peanuts, as well as a critical insight on their impact on the allergenicity. The methods discussed include boiling, roasting/baking, microwaving, ultrasonication, frying, and high-pressure steaming/autoclaving. Their effectiveness in alleviating the allergenicity, and their capacity in preserving the structural integrity of the treated peanuts, were thoroughly explored. Research data on this matter may open further perspectives for future relevant investigation ultimately aiming at producing hypoallergenic peanuts.

A novel IgE epitope-specific antibodies-based sandwich ELISA for sensitive measurement of immunoreactivity changes of peanut allergen Ara h 2 in processed foods

“…The IC 50 of RPE, boiled peanut extract, roasted peanut-1 extract, roasted peanut-2 extract, and fried peanut extract were observed at dilution factors of 6462.21 (2.82 μg/mL protein), 914.47 (2.97 μg/mL protein), 1776.33 (2.43 μg/mL protein), 1734.93 (2.31 μg/mL protein), and 1270.52 (6.04 μg/mL protein), respectively. These findings indicate that roasting enhances human IgE-immunoreactivity of peanut, while boiling/frying reduces it, which is consistent with the findings on Ara h 2 IgE-immunoreactivity described above and to those of previous reports ( 40 , 44 , 45 ), suggesting that Ara h 2 could serve as a useful biomarker for predicting IgE-binding changes of peanut. The IC 50 of beverage-1, beverage-2, and cookie were observed at dilution factors of 802.81, 4497.0, and 69.84 respectively, indicating that the IgE-binding ability of peanut in these sample extracts was different.…”

Peanut Allergy and Component-Resolved Diagnostics Possibilities—What Are the Benefits?

“…Scientific reports revealed that, in France, approximately 15% of food-related anaphylaxis in the pediatric population is caused by legumes, and among them, the most common trigger is peanuts, which are responsible for almost 80% of cases. The determination of the prevalence and relevance of sensitization to legumes in peanut-allergic children is needed because of the increasing consumption of legumes, data on cross-reactivity between peanuts and other legumes, and frequent severe allergic reactions observed in children with a peanut allergy [65,66].…”

An Overview of Ingredients Used for Plant-Based Meat Analogue Production and Their Influence on Structural and Textural Properties of the Final Product

“…Another problem connected with peanut utilization is its high allergenic potential, either consumed by itself or in combination with other foods or allergens where cross-reactions can occur. A recently published review paper by Haidar et al [76] offers several technological solutions to reduce allergenicity of peanuts, which include processing at high temperatures (e.g., boiling, baking, frying) or the use of ultrasound and high pressure (autoclaving).…”