Allergens
Allergies are disproportionately strong immunological responses to non-infectious substances, so-called allergens. In Germany about 6% of the population is affected, the symptons range from mild skin rashes to life-threatening anaphylactic shock reactions. Allergens, which are components of foodstuffs, are particular problematic.
Although the EU Regulation for Foodstuff Information (LMIV) has been determining clear information- and labeling obligations for food producers to clearly mark potential allergens, lacks in declaration or unintentional contaminations during production can not be excluded.
More than 90% of all food allergies and intolerances can be traced back to the following causes and have to be labelled in the list of ingredients.
- Eggs
- Peanuts
- Fish
- Cereals containing gluten
- Crustaceans
- Lupine
- Milk and lactose
- Nuts
- Sulphure dioxide and sulphite
- Cellery
- Mustard
- Sesame
- Soya
- Molluscs
So the availability of sensitive and reliable analytical tools for the detection of allergens is an absolute necessity.
Impetus Bioscience does not only use standard protein-based ELISA methods but also in-house developed DNA-based PCR methods.
Continuous new developments do not only enable the detection of the above mentioned 14 allergens but also many others, e.g. ambrosia and coconut.
