Method selection for allergen detection
NEW: Watch the latest AOAC-SSA Webinar:
Allergens in food: Regulatory landscape, allergen management and analytical challenges
We are official sponsors of the latest AOAC-SSA Webinar featuring our lead Scientific Officer Dr Karim Dhanani as he and guest speakers touch on the Regulatory landscape, Allergen management & Analytical challenges. The panel discussion included the following:
- Allergens in Food – a Global Perspective (Prof. Samuel Godefroy, University Laval)
- The Food Allergen Regulatory Landscape In Sub-Saharan Africa (Prof. Limbikani Matumba, Lilongwe University of Agriculture & Natural Resources)
- Food allergen risk management: a retailers perspective (Karin Carstensen, Woolworths)
- How to Detect a Food Allergen (Dr Karim Dhanani, FACTS)
Listen and view the webinar recording below:
Fit-for-purpose
Selecting a laboratory against criteria such as whether or not it is accredited against internationally benchmarked standards (e.g. by SANAS, in South Africa) is an industry standard. For allergen detection, you should also consider how fit-for-purpose a method of detection is for your objectives, and the status of that method in the professional analytical community.
I often see the term ‘AOAC-approved method’ on my certificates of analysis (COAs) – but what does this mean?
AOAC International is a non-profit scientific organisation that publishes standardised chemical-analysis methods, designed to increase confidence in the results of chemical and microbiological analyses. Government agencies and civil organisations often require that laboratories use official AOAC methods. Note that an ‘AOAC official’ method of analysis is not the same as an ‘AOAC performance-tested’ method.
How do methods of analysis become AOAC official methods?
The process from defining the need for a method and its scope until an official method of analysis is published is called the method review process. This process begins with the definition of standard method performance requirements (SMPRs) by an expert review panel (ERP). ERPs are composed of qualified subject-matter experts representing various perspectives, who are obtained via a Call for Experts from the AOAC. Potential expert reviewers are vetted by the AOAC Official Methods Board; if selected, they undergo orientation, so as to be fully prepared to review candidate methods.
An SMPR describes the scope and required performance of a fit-for-purpose method, but does not typically prescribe a specific technique. The AOAC facilitates and coordinates the ERP review of each candidate method against collaborative study protocols and/or SMPRs submitted with the method. At the conclusion of their review of the method, the ERP will render a decision: to either grant or withhold AOAC First Action Official Methods status.
Once a method receives AOAC First Action Official Methods status, it is published in the Official Methods of Analysis of AOAC International, and full manuscripts are published in the Journal of AOAC International.
Within two years of a method receiving First Action status, the reviewing ERP will analyse feedback on the method’s performance, and either request a continuance or submit a recommendation to the AOAC Official Methods Board for the method’s adoption as a Final Action Method.
What is the status of accreditation of a suitable allergen detection method?
In 2016 an SMPR was published by the AOAC Stakeholder Panel on Strategic Food Analytical Methods for the detection and quantification of selected food allergens in food matrices (2016.002).
On 20 April 2020, the ERP for food allergens published the very first First Action Official Method of Analysis for the detection of food allergens in food matrices: Detection and Quantitation of Selected Food Allergens by Liquid Chromatography with Tandem Mass Spectrometry: First Action 2017.17.
It is important to note that although this is not a Final Action method, this is the only official method of analysis for food allergen detection that has been found to meet the SMPRs and has been published to date – including those using alternative techniques to LC-MS/MS, such as ELISA.
What has FACTS selected as its allergen-detection method?
FACTS has based its updated LC-MS/MS-based allergen-detection methods on this AOAC Official Method of Analysis.
For more information about our testing-method innovation and details such as validation studies, please contact our technical support team.
Other articles and resources you may be interested in:
Targeted proteomics: a go-to-method
FACTS Targeted Proteomics by LC-MS/MS
Benefits of Targeted Proteomics (by LC-MS/MS) for allergen detection
Comparing test methods: PCR, ELISA & Targeted Proteomics by LC-MS/MS
Analytical advancements in Targeted Proteomics
Improving LC-MS/MS allergen testing result quantification
FACTS Testing Catalogue