Food Allergens Testing

What is a food allergens testing?

Correct nutritional labelling and an accurate declaration of allergens is vitally important, as it ensures that consumers can make informed buying decisions and avoid the risk of allergic responses. As a business, you must be aware of the types of allergens that may be naturally present in food ingredients or food additives. This is where food allergy testing can help you.

During the food production process there are many stages when the product could become contaminated and result in harm for end customers. A food allergens testing gives food retailers, restaurants and other operators confidence of the products ingredients and reduce risk associated with food allergens.

Why is a food allergens testing important?

A food allergy is an exaggerated immune system response. It is triggered by specific foods, including but not limited to peanuts, milk and eggs. It can occur within minutes of consuming a food product. Food allergies have a number of symptoms, and some of these can be incredibly severe in nature, including swelling of the face, acute breathlessness, itching of the skin, a sore throat and, in extreme circumstances, even death.

Food allergy testing ensures the avoidance of the presence of allergens in "allergen-free" food formulation. In addition, it also allows you to stay current with the food laws on declaration of allergens on food labels, and stay abreast with auditing and inspection standards and their requirements of food allergens.

TÜV SÜD is a leading food allergy testing company

TÜV SÜD is an independent certification body which is accredited to globally recognised standards. Our experienced experts can help you gain the trust of your customers by making sure that your products are of the highest possible quality.

Our food allergy testing services, such as Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) test and Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) test, help you minimise risk by determining the presence of allergens at very low levels.

TÜV SÜD’s food allergens testing services

Our food allergens testing includes a detailed assessment of:

• Celery
• Eggs
• Fish
• Gluten in cereals (e.g. barley, oats, rye, wheat)
• Lupin
• Milk and dairy products
• Molluscs (e.g. clams, mussels, oysters, scallops)
• Mustard
• Nuts (e.g. almonds, brazil nuts, cashews, hazelnuts, macadamia nuts, pecans, pistachios, walnuts)
• Peanuts
• Seafood crustaceans (e.g. crabs, lobsters, prawns)
• Sesame seeds
• Soy
• Sulphur dioxide and sulphites (at levels above 10mg/kg or 10mg/L)

We also conduct:

• Allergen management training and audits
• Process and product audits according to customer requirements
• Supplier audits to minimise risk from external sources