Life Sciences Commons^™

Novel Sources Of Food Allergens, Lee Palmer

Department of Food Science and Technology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Technological advancement and globalization have led to the spread of foods to countries where the food does not yet have a documented history of consumption, in other words, novel foods. Novel foods also encompass truly novel foods, foods that have been processed in a novel manner, and novel means of exposure. With novel foods comes the potential of food allergens that pose an uncharacterized risk to those with food allergies. Food allergies are an increasingly important facet of public health. Therefore, a deeper understanding of novel foods as well as methods to evaluate consumers’ potential risk is necessary. Literature reviews …

Detection Of Food Proteins In Human Serum Using Mass Spectrometry Methods, Abigail S. Burrows

Department of Food Science and Technology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Allergenic peanut proteins are highly resistant to digestion and are detectable by immunoassays after gastrointestinal digestion. The application of liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) methods for in vivo detection of peptides originating from allergenic food proteins has not been thoroughly studied. The aim of this work was to develop an in vivo detection method for peanut proteins in serum using LC-MS/MS. The method(s) were validated by analyzing subject serum collected after peanut consumption.

Three de-complexation strategies were evaluated including (1) MS acquisition settings (i.e. inclusion, exclusion lists), (2) commercial depletion kits, and (3) organic solvent fractionation by discovery LC-MS/MS. Overall, …

Evaluation Of Qualitative Food Allergen Detection Methods And Cleaning Validation Approaches, Rachel C. Courtney

Department of Food Science and Technology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Allergen control plans are increasingly used by the food industry to prevent allergen cross-contact and validation of these plans involves methods to detect allergen protein residues. A commonly used rapid allergen detection method is lateral flow devices, although research about their validation is lacking. The objective of this research was to investigate lateral flow devices, their specificity and sensitivity to milk proteins and milk-derived ingredients, swabbing conditions, and applications in cleaning validation.

Several lateral flow devices advertised to detect total milk did not detect whey proteins or whey-derived ingredients. The overload level of the kits was highly variable (ranging from …