Mitigation of Major Peanut Allergens by Pulsed Ultraviolet Light

Abstract

Peanut allergy represents one of the most severe IgE-mediated reactions with food, but to date, the only effective way to prevent peanut allergy is total avoidance. If allergens could be mitigated during food processing before a product reaches the consumer, this would substantially lessen the food allergy problem. The efficacy of pulsed ultraviolet light (PUV), a novel food processing technology, on reducing peanut allergens, was examined. This study revealed for the first time that PUV was also capable of deactivating Ara h 2, the most potent allergenic protein of peanut. Protein extracts from raw and roasted peanuts were treated for 2, 4, and 6 min and peanut butter slurry was treated for 1, 2, and 3 min in a Xenon Steripulse XL 3000® PUV system. The distance from the central axis of the lamp was varied at 10.8, 14.6, and 18.2 cm. The SDS–PAGE showed a reduction in the protein band intensity for Ara h 1, Ara h 2, and Ara h 3 at the energy levels ranging from 111.6 to 223.2 J/cm2. Reduction of the protein band intensity for peanut allergens increased with treatment time but decreased with increased distance from the PUV lamp. The ELISA for peanut extracts and peanut butter slurry showed a reduction in IgE binding of up to 12.9- and 6.7-folds, respectively, compared to control.