The effect of heat treatment on the detection of peanut allergens as determined by ELISA and real-time PCR

Peanut allergic reactions can result from the ingestion of even very small quantities of peanut and represent a severe threat to the health of sensitised individuals. The detection of peanut traces in food products is therefore of prime importance. Peanut traces which can be (unintentionally) present in food products have usually undergone one or more processing steps like roasting and baking. Therefore, methods designed to detect such traces have to be capable of detecting heat-treated peanuts. Commonly used methodologies designed to detect peanut traces in food products are enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs) that detect peanut-specific proteins, and polymerase-chain-reaction (PCR)-based methods targeting peanut-specific DNA. A comparative analysis of such methods was performed and the impact of heat treatment on peanut kernels as well as the impact on a peanut-containing food matrix are investigated. Our results show that heat treatments have a detrimental effect on the detection of peanut with either type of method and that both types of methods are affected in a similar manner.