Food Allergen Analysis: Developing Methods to Harness the Power of High Resolution, Accurate Mass Detection

Food allergens are a critical food safety hazard that food manufacturers must manage appropriately. In order to validate allergen control plans and ensure regulatory compliance, robust detection and quantification methods for food allergens in a variety of complex matrices are a necessity. Currently, mass spectrometry is the analytical strategy with the highest potential for use in confirmatory methods for food allergen detection and quantification. Yet, few fully quantitative methods have been published for the detection of food allergens in complex food matrices. The complexity and diversity of food allergens themselves, the food matrices in which they need to be detected, and the types of food processing used in their production give rise to inherent challenges for the development of widely-applicable food allergen detection methods.

This webinar will review the essentials of food allergen analysis and will discuss novel strategies for method development, which harness the power of HRAM-MS to untangle the complexities of food allergens.

About the speakers

Melanie Downs
Assistant Professor, Food Allergy Research & Resource Program, Department of Food Science and Technology
University of Nebraska-Lincoln

Dr. Downs’ research primarily focuses on the proteomics of allergenic foods, including the identification, characterization, and analytical detection of food allergens using mass spectrometry. In addition to research, Dr. Downs also works with the food industry on a number of aspects of food allergen management, including development of allergen control programs, validation of allergen preventive controls, and application of food allergen detection methods.

Phil Johnson
Assistant Professor, Food Allergy Research & Resource Program, Department of Food Science and Technology
University of Nebraska-Lincoln

Dr. Johnson has an interest in developing analytical methods for the food industry. Currently he is working on ways to mine untargeted MS data for improved peptide target discovery, aiming to make allergen detection methods work better in the complex food matrices in which they may occur. He is also working on clinical aspects of food allergy such as how allergens enter the bloodstream, and ways in which diagnostic tools may be improved.