October 10, 2003
UNL Food Allergy Research Aids Industry and Consumers
LINCOLN, Neb. — Sometimes simple things are the strongest motivation.
For Food Scientist Sue Hefle, it's unsolicited thank-yous from people whose lives her research touches. She especially remembers the late-night e-mail from a parent whose child has a food allergy. "It basically said thanks for all you're doing to make my son's world safer."
Hefle knows people with food allergies are eager for anything that ensures processed foods contain only labeled ingredients. Unknowingly eating something they're allergic to could be deadly.
Hefle specializes in food toxicology and co-directs the University of Nebraska's internationally recognized Food Allergy Research and Resource Program, or FARRP. The program works closely with industry to protect allergic consumers.
It tackles diverse allergy-related issues but is best known for developing fast, simple, accurate tests processors can use to check for traces of allergenic foods on equipment or in products. Tests for peanut, egg, almonds and milk are commercially available; others are in the works.
"Food allergic people have to spend an incredible amount of time in the grocery store checking labels," Hefle explained. "Our tests have helped increase consumer confidence because they can trust labels more than in the past."
Leading food companies from six countries fund FARRP, which the NU Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources team launched in 1995. Industry collaboration ensures researchers are addressing the most pressing food allergy issues, said Steve Taylor, food science and technology department head and FARRP's co-director.
"We're the leading program in the world that focuses in on allergens from the food industry perspective," he said. "If we did the research without industry outreach, we wouldn't have an effective program."
Food allergies are a hot issue and the team's findings are in demand. For example, a new allergen test can take four years to develop, Hefle said, but "every day we get calls begging for new tests. The industry is hungry for this information."
FARRP researchers also are working to define the exact trace levels, or threshold doses, of different allergenic foods that cause a reaction in the most sensitive people.
Food processors prepare different foods on the same equipment, which is cleaned before a new product is processed, Taylor explained. Processors and regulators need to know at what level an allergen causes allergic reactions.
"The question is how clean is clean enough? We need to know what's really needed to protect people," Hefle said. Regulators need science-based threshold information on which to make decisions.
Threshold studies require global collaboration for clinical trials. The IANR team works with scientists at medical clinics equipped to test allergenic volunteers. International representation is important because the allergy prevalence for a specific food varies country to country, depending mainly on how widely that food is eaten.
The team recently finished a threshold study on eggs. Trials for peanut, shrimp and hazelnut are in progress.
Another recent FARRP study funded by the United Soybean Board is good new
s for soybean growers and soybean allergic individuals. Conducting similar clinical trials, scientists determined that this widely used oil doesn't cause reactions in people allergic to soybeans. Preliminary results show none of the soybean allergic volunteers tested worldwide reacted to soybean oil.
That's because soybean oil contains no protein, the trigger for allergic reactions, Taylor said.
Food companies worldwide now look to FARRP for information about how best to protect allergic consumers and control allergens, Taylor said. The team also works with the Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network, which promotes food allergy education, awareness and research.
"This is the most successful food industry-funded consortium in the United States right now," Taylor said. "It has made the country and world a safer place for food allergic consumers."
A U.S. Department of Agriculture grant helps fund this IANR Agricultural Research Division research.
10/10/03-VM Steve Taylor - Ph.D.
Food Science and Technology Professor and Department Head (402) 472-2833
 
Sue Hefle - Ph.D.
Food Science & Technology Associate Professor (402) 472-4430
Vicki Miller Research Communications Coordinator (402) 472-3813
Department:
Food Science and Technology
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