Advances in MS methods for food allergens detection

Abstract Food allergy (FA) is a relatively new food safety issue with an increasing prevalence worldwide and an increasing number of food allergens identified. It is due to an anomalous interaction between food components and immune system causing a broad spectrum of disorders extremely variable among individuals. Although FA-related diseases are restricted to a small category of individuals, the number of patients concerned is continuously growing in the last 10 years, making this field of a primary importance for clinicians as well as for food industry. Several foods are implicated in allergic reactions; however, a total of eight big ingredients have been identified accounting for most of the allergic reactions, that is, milk, egg, wheat, soy, peanuts, tree nuts (e.g., hazelnut, walnuts, pecans, almonds, and cashews), fish, and shellfish. This chapter illustrates the capabilities and potential of MS applied to the detection of allergens in food. Top-down and bottom-up approaches are presented. Finally, performances of high and low-resolution mass spectrometry to meet the desired allergen thresholds are presented.