Strategies to Mitigate Peanut Allergy: Production, Processing, Utilization, and Immunotherapy Considerations

Peanut (Arachis hypogaea L.) is an important crop grown worldwide for food and edible oil. The surge of peanut allergy in the past 25 years has profoundly impacted both affected individuals and the peanut and related food industries. In response, several strategies to mitigate peanut allergy have emerged to reduce/eliminate the allergenicity of peanuts or to better treat peanut-allergic individuals. In this review, we give an overview of peanut allergy, with a focus on peanut proteins, including the impact of thermal processing on peanut protein structure and detection in food matrices. We discuss several strategies currently being investigated to mitigate peanut allergy, including genetic engineering, novel processing strategies, and immunotherapy in terms of mechanisms, recent research, and limitations. All strategies are discussed with considerations for both peanut-allergic individuals and the numerous industries/government agencies involved throughout peanut production and utilization.