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Allergens

ALS offers a wide range of in-house and partner laboratory allergen testing, providing extensive support to the food manufacturing industry, thereby enabling them to deliver the product assurance the marketplace demands via both ELISA and PCR methods.

a variety of allergen food including fish, eggs and bread

Allergen Testing Available

  • Almond 
  • Betalactoglobulin
  • Casein 
  • Celery*
  • Crustacean*
  • Egg*
  • Fish*
  • Gluten*
  • Histamine (HPLC)
  • Lupin*
  • Milk & Milk Components - Betalactoglobulin and Casein*
  • Molluscs*
  • Mustard*
  • Nuts (Tree Nuts)*
  • Peanut*
  • Sesame*
  • Soya (Soybeans)*
  • Sulphites (Sulphur Dioxide)*
  • Others upon request (ELISA/PCR)
     

*14 allergens are required to be declared as allergens by food law. Food businesses need to tell customers if any food they provide contain any of the listed allergens as an ingredient. (FSA Allergen guidance for food businesses)

FAQ

  • What is an ELISA (Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay) test?

    ELISA techniques use antibodies to selectively target allergens or specific marker proteins within a food product for detection. Once the allergen has been selectively bound by the antibody an enzyme linked to these causes a proportional colour change. This change can be measured to give highly sensitive results. The technique is applicable to multiple sample matrices including environmental swabs. The advantages of this technique include:

    • • The test is highly specific for the analyte.
    • • The test is highly sensitive for the analyte.
    • • The technique is more environmentally friendly as it does not produce large volumes of waste solvents.
    • • Relatively rapid detection technique.

    ELISA is a Quantative test which gives a result within a specific range.

  • What is an PCR (Polymerase Chain Reaction) test?

    PCR techniques involve the extraction and amplification of target allergen DNA from samples. This test is highly specific but may not be representative of the quantity of allergenic protein content of a sample. This technique is highly useful when allergenic proteins are difficult to detect by ELISA.

    Real Time PCR is a variation using a thermocylcer to generate specific target species DNA copies, with each copy containing a fluorescent marker. These can be read by a spectrophotometer in real time where the signal generated by the fluorescent markers is directly proportional to the number of copies of the DNA (amplicons). 

    PCR is a Qualitative test which gives a presence/absence result.

 
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