Minimization of Protein Allergenicity in Food Products Through Conventional and Novel Processes: A Comprehensive Review on Mechanisms, Detection, and Applications

Food proteins can cause life-threatening anaphylactic responses due to their allergenic properties when absorbed via the gastrointestinal system. Reduction or elimination of protein allergenicity is possibly achieved by the masking and destruction or alteration of allergenic epitopes in the molecular structure of relevant proteins via various food treatments capable of destabilizing, unfolding, digesting, fragmenting, denaturing, modifying, and aggregating proteins. Since the common food allergens are found in milk, wheat, meat, and nuts to be further processed into various products, efforts are increasingly proceeding to develop fast and accurate allergen detection methods, and processing approaches to mitigate the allergenic potential of the relevant proteins in the end products. This review aims to present the current status of food proteins treatments and processing techniques, both conventional and novel, whether individually or in combination, to either reduce, eliminate, or detect allergenicity. Proteomic studies, immunological assays, and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) based analyses are imperative for the effective profiling of protein allergenicity. Finally, a significant challenge that must be addressed in the context of safety guidelines is the lack of a predictive and validated method for assessing allergenicity in relation to novel proteins or foods that have been recently introduced to the market.