The presence of food allergen is considered as one of the high risk area in food production. Unlike microorganisms, allergens are hard to be removed once it contaminate the food product or supply chain. Therefore, it is essential and is a good practice to test for allergens periodically and correctly list all the allergens that might be present in the food products.
We provide reliable and cost-effective allergen test using ELISA methods to detect and quantify proteins from allergenic ingredients in your products.
Testing for the seven food allergens
| Screening test using Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) | |
| Allergen | Kit |
|---|---|
| Egg, Milk, Wheat, Buckwheat, Peanuts | FASTKIT ELISA Ver. III (Nippon Ham) and/or FASPEK ELISA II (Morinaga) |
| Shrimp, Crab | Crustacean kit II (Maruha Nichiro) and/or FA test EIA-Crustacean II (Nissui) |
・Self-inspection
・Notification method of Japan's Consumer Affairs Agency
| Confirmation test | |
| Allergen | Method |
|---|---|
| Wheat, Buckwheat, Peanuts, Shrimp, Crab | Endpoint PCR test |
| Egg, Milk | Western Blotting |
Allergen detection methods
A)ELISA method / Immunochromatography method
・The Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) method uses antigen-antibody reactions to detect allergenic proteins in food samples.
ELISA test kits are designed to detect limited numbers at a time,. Therefore the use of multiple kits might be needed in the case of multiple allergens.
Our tests conforms to the testing methods stipulated by the Consumer Affairs Agency.
B)PCR method
・Targets a specific DNA sequence of an allergenic food ingredient.
Minute amounts of DNA can be detected using this method.
Like ELISA this method is highly specific but is not recommended for the detection of milk, egg or highly processed food.
This test is not recommended for samples with the presence of PCR inhibitors or DNA that might be fragmented.
Western blot method
・Recommended for the detection of allergens in complex mixtures.