Anisakis simplex allergens remain active after conventional or microwave heating and pepsin treatments of chilled and frozen L3 larvae

Abstract

AbstractBACKGROUND: Some Anisakis simplex allergens, Ani s 4 among them, are reported to be resistant to freezing, heat and pepsin. However, the effect of conventional and microwave heating on live and frozen larvae, common conditions for fish preparation, and consecutive pepsin treatment have not been studied previously. In this study, live and frozen/thawed A. simplex larvae were subjected to conventional or microwave heating during time–temperature sufficient to kill live larvae, and digested with pepsin in the strong conditions used in fish inspection. The antigenicity of A. simplex in the larvae extracts and in the incubation media filtrates after all treatments was studied.RESULTS: The immunoblotting assay showed the presence of Ani s 4 in all the larvae extracts and all the incubation media filtrates. A. simplex crude antigens were detected in all conditions; nevertheless, differences were observed among treatments, with lower values detected in the filtrates obtained after the strong acidic pepsin treatment.CONCLUSION: The results indicate that ingestion of A. simplex larvae can cause allergy in consumers already sensitised to this allergen, even if the parasitised fish is consumed well‐cooked and after freezing in the recommended conditions selected for killing the larvae to avoid human anisakiasis. Copyright © 2009 Society of Chemical Industry