ISPAM Advisory Panel-Food Allergen

Allergen Testing • Results are not comparable between different test kits and methods • No recognized standard reference materials • No reference method, except for gluten • No standardized reporting unit • No standardized sampling plan

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Is food allergen analysis flawed? • Key industry standards emphasize transparency, traceability and integrity in the supply chain, which in turn require testing to ensure that food is what it is claimed to be, e.g. labeling claims, gluten- free, surveillance …. • Presence of peanut and almond (or Mahaleb) in cumin due to initially flawed analysis resulted in hundreds of recalls in 2014-2015 o Unequivocal presence of peanut proteins o False positive for almond by ELISA due to cross reactivity to an unknown spice o LC-MS/MS confirmed absence of almond and identified presence of mahaleb o Multiplex methods show other possible contaminants: almond, Brazil nut, cashew, hazelnut, and pistachio

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