ISPAM Advisory Panel-Food Allergen

Challenges for Implementation of Allergen Testing • Resources • People

• Space (sometimes no analytical lab available in plants) • Time (time for running assays and obtaining results) • Total turnaround time must be quick • Cost of test (kits)-cannot be cost prohibitive • Kit availability-As allergen awareness increases, potentially demand for test kits will also increase. Kits have to be

readily available with little to no lead time. • Assays not available for every allergen

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Challenges for Implementation of Allergen Testing (continued)… • What to test and are all test methods appropriate for these applications? • Food contact surface swabs • Environmental swabs • CIP rinse waters • Finished product samples • General knowledge gap • What result, after allergen swabbing, indicates that equipment is safe for use? Is it zero? • Does 10mg of egg allergen after swabbing 1,500 square cm of a food contact surface represent a real health risk to consumers?

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