Avoiding nuts cross-contamination in your food  products by using rapid allergen tests.

Nut allergy is one of the most common allergies in childhood, causing one of the most severe anaphylactic reactions. Depending on the characteristics of the diet, allergenic foods will vary from one geographical area to another. Thus, the peanut is the nut that causes the most allergic reactions in the United States, while in Europe it is the hazelnut.

Therefore, the food industry is faced with the responsibility to ensure consumer safety by properly labelling nut-containing products and preventing cross-contamination of nuts during production in nut-free products.

One of the tools that the food industry has adopted to control the presence of nuts and prevent cross contamination is the use of rapid allergen detection strips. These rapid strips offer manufacturers an effective and rapid approach to identifying the presence of allergenic nut proteins in foods and surfaces, allowing companies to take immediate action to prevent cross-contamination and ensure foods are safe to consume. Among the advantages offered by the use of quick strips are:

• Speed: These strips provide results in minutes, allowing food companies to perform real-time testing during production.
• Ease of use: The strips are simple to use and do not require sophisticated laboratory equipment. Production staff can perform tests efficiently.
• Sensitivity and specificity: The strips are designed to detect specific allergens with high sensitivity and specificity, minimizing false positives or negatives.
• Cross-contamination prevention: Early detection of allergens helps prevent cross-contamination in production facilities and ensures that final products are free of undeclared allergens.
• Regulatory Compliance: Using rapid allergen detection strips helps companies comply with food labelling regulations and standards, which is critical for transparency and food safety.

Zeulab continues working to help the food industry with rapid strips for the determination of nuts, in this case the solution for the detection of walnuts (PROTEON EXPRESS WALNUT) has been developed that completes the current solutions for the detection of hazelnuts (PROTEON EXPRESS HAZELNUT) and almond (PROTEON EXPRESS ALMOND).