Simultaneous analysis of major allergens in food matrices by high sensitive mass spectrometer

Food allergy is an abnormal overreaction of immune system to a particular protein in food. It is becoming a major concern for public health and food industries. Typical food allergens are proteins and peptides. The signs and symptoms may range widely from itching, red skin, swelling, anaphylaxis etc. There is no cure for food allergy at present, so people with allergy must avoid food triggers. To avoid unexpected contact with food allergens, food labels are strictly used to indicate presence of specific allergens. The Food Allergen Labeling and Consumer Protection Act (FALCPA) identified eight foods or food groups as major allergens which include milk, eggs, fish (e.g., bass, flounder, cod), crustacean shellfish (e.g., crab, lobster, shrimp), tree nuts (e.g., almonds, walnuts, pecans), peanuts, wheat and soybeans and FALCPA mandates that the labels of foods containing eight major food allergens declare the presence of allergens. ELISA (enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay) and PCR (Polymerase chain reaction) are most commonly used technique to detect allergenic foods due to relatively simple handling. Even so, cross-reactivity of ELISA can raise a the risk of false positive results. Additionally, ELISA requires separated analysis for each target. Since PCR assay is based on detection of DNAs rather than allergenic proteins, milk cannot be distinguished from beef and will be difficult to detect food contains egg white.
Therefore, it is important to determine allergens in food by using more reliable detection method. Recently, liquid chromatography mass spectrometry becomes an alternative technique to detect allergenic proteins with high selectivity, sensitivity, and capability to analyze multiple allergens simultaneously. We developed a method to detect 31 peptides derived from eight allergens. We analyzed commercially available samples such as bread and gluten free bread etc to evaluate this method. We did not detected any peptides derived from gluten in gluten free bread and gluten free cracker. And we could detect peptides of 20 ppm wheat fortified to gluten free bread.
We could detect other allergens shown on the label from commercial available food matrices.