Used effectively, food processing technologies can offer ways to reduce allergenicity of some products. According to a recent review, while single processing technologies may fall short of reducing allergens to safe levels, Combined Processing Technology (CPT) is emerging as a promising approach.
Heat treatment, ultrasound, high hydrostatic pressure, enzymatic cross-linking, fermentation, and enzymatic hydrolysis, have each been explored as methods to reduce the allergenicity of food allergens. Foods made by one of these processing methods in isolation may not meet the multiple aspects of consumer demand: low allergenicity, high nutritional value and good sensory properties.
CPT integrates multiple processing methods that can be categorized into three types: physical-biochemical, biochemical-biochemical, and physical-physical. Among these, physical-biochemical CPT is the most extensively studied and well-established. It leverages the complementary effects of physical and biochemical processes to effectively disrupt both conformational and linear protein epitopes, which are the primary structures responsible for allergenic reactions. Biochemical-biochemical CPT, while effective in disrupting linear epitopes, is often time-consuming. Physical-physical CPT, the least studied, mainly targets conformational epitopes and has limited impact on linear epitopes.
By combining different processing methods, CPT may help food manufacturers cater to the needs of food allergic consumers. As research progresses, so too might the potential of CPT to change the way allergens are addressed in the production of safer foods for those with hypersensitivities.
Reference: Pang et al. Combined processing technologies: Promising approaches for reducing Allergenicity of food allergens. Food Chem. 2024 Oct 5;463(Pt 4):141559. doi: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2024.141559. Available with Open Access.
