Allergen Bureau - Latest News and Events

Allergies New Zealand's growing epidemic

Mon, 20 Jul 2009 18:33:36 +0100

Dr Vincent St Aubyn Crump, one of New Zealand's Allergists and Physicians, and author of a new book on sale in September entitled 'Allergies: New Zealand's growing epidemic', will be the keynote speaker at Allergy New Zealand's Annual General Meeting on Wednesday 12 August 2009 in Auckland. Allergy New Zealand members and the public are welcome to attend. For more information and to RSVP, contact Allergy New Zealand on +64 (0)9 623 3912 or email allergy@allergy.org.nz (mailto:allergy@allergy.org.nz)

Shellfish allergy is not all about tropomyosin

Mon, 20 Jul 2009 10:50:14 +0100

Shellfish allergy has been found to be the main cause of food allergy related emergency room visits in adults and children older than 6 years in the USA. Until recently, the protein tropomyosin found in shrimp was thought to be the main protein responsible for allergic reactions to shellfish.

New ELISA for walnut allergens

Mon, 20 Jul 2009 10:47:27 +0100

Researchers from the Food Allergy Research Resource Program (FARRP), at the University of Nebraska have published the results of their work to develop a rapid, sensitive, and specific enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) method for the detection of walnut protein residues in food.

Food processing effects on allergens reviewed

Mon, 20 Jul 2009 10:45:28 +0100

Research into the effects of food processing methods on the properties of food proteins has been reviewed by a researcher from the Institute of Food Chemistry at the University of Hamburg. Novel methods of food processing like high pressure, electric field application or irradiation and their impact on food allergens are presented.

EuroPrevall: food allergy safety assessment

Tue, 07 Jul 2009 12:45:21 +0100

EuroPrevall have posted on their website a lay summary of a report from the �Developing a framework for assessing the risk from allergenic foods� workshop published earlier this year. The summary article titled �How scientists assess if a food is safe for allergic people� can be accessed at www.europrevall.org/public.asp?id=3526 (http://www.europrevall.org/public.asp?id=3526)

Using ELISA to detect allergens in salad dressing

Tue, 07 Jul 2009 12:43:58 +0100

Certain food matrices and processing conditions are known to affect the detection of protein residues using the ELISA method. The detectability of proteins in mustard, egg, milk, and gluten in salad dressing was investigated by Dr Steve Taylor and his colleagues at the Food Allergy Research and Resource Program (FARRP) in Nebraska.

Finding a diagnostic tool for milk allergy

Tue, 07 Jul 2009 12:42:22 +0100

Diagnosis of cow�s milk allergy in children is often difficult. A recently published study has investigated the possibility of developing a diagnostic method based on differences in intestinal metabolic activity in those with cow�s milk allergy, shown as detectable changes in the end-products of metabolism.

Review of quantitative allergen methods

Tue, 07 Jul 2009 12:40:51 +0100

Researchers from the University of Li�ge, Belgium, have recently published a review of quantitative methods for the detection of food allergens. The following is an excerpt from the publication�s abstract: Progress in mass spectrometry greatly opened up the field of proteomics. These advances are now available for the detection and the quantification of traces of allergenic proteins in complex mixtures, and complete the set of biological tests used until now, such as ELISA or PCR. We review methods classified according to their ability to simultaneously quantify and identify allergenic proteins and underline major advances in the mass-spectrometric methods.

NMI allergen detection workshops: 22 � 29th June 2009

Mon, 22 Jun 2009 10:27:23 +0100

This week, The National Measurement Institute will be conducting two-day workshops in Sydney and Melbourne, and evening information sessions in Sydney, Melbourne and Perth. The sessions aim to increase awareness of allergen detection issues and discuss associated technical measurement issues. For online registration, go to: www.foodallergendetectionworkshops.com.au/ (http://www.foodallergendetectionworkshops.com.au/)

VITAL Review Group formed

Mon, 22 Jun 2009 10:25:04 +0100

A VITAL Review Group has been established to oversee the review of the science underpinning the VITAL grid and to complete the VITAL Review. The group will also revise VITAL tools (calculator, FAQs, worked examples) and other supporting information, such as training documents, in line with amendments to the VITAL process as a result of the review. The review project is expected to be finalised by February 2010, with the VITAL procedure and VITAL tools being launched on the website at that time.