Recognized as a growing problem in most countries, food allergies affect approximately 2.5 percent of the general population worldwide, with reported prevalence rates ranging from 1 percent to 10 percent. Symptoms associated with an allergic response range from mild to moderate and can include anaphylactic reactions, which are life-threatening. Therefore, it is important for food business operators to accurately identify undisclosed allergens and allergen cross-contamination.

Although allergen testing has long been incorporated into standard operating procedures, allergen test results were traditionally reported in isolation, rather than as a component of a holistic cleaning verification and quality release process. Therefore, operators have been unable to easily incorporate allergen detection into their businesses’ larger environmental monitoring database, hindering the ability to monitor process and cleaning control efficacy.

In light of the aforementioned issues, Hygiena has launched its new EnSURE Touch Allergen App, which harmonizes the company’s ATP cleaning and environmental monitoring system, EnSURE Touch, with its line of allergen tests, including: AlerTox®, AllerFlow, and GlutenTox® Pro. The Allergen App integrates with the handheld EnSURE Touch luminometer to incorporate allergen test results into overarching environmental test protocols and reporting for insight into production safety. Additionally, Hygiena’s SureTrend® Cloud data management system, which comes with EnSURE Touch, allows for customized report consolidation, trend analysis, proactive process correction, and robust audit preparation.

Key features of the EnSURE Touch Allergen App include:

• Data entered on EnSURE Touch automatically syncs to SureTrend Cloud
• Data tracking with SureTrend Cloud 
• Export allergen test results or build reports through SureTrend Cloud 
• Unify allergen test kit data from AlerTox Sticks, AllerFlow Gluten, AllerSnap, GlutenTox Pro, and PRO-Clean in one location 
• Includes multiple quality indicators in one instrument, including ATP, microorganisms, enzymes, and allergens. 

Hygiena believes that the ability to quickly and easily align allergen test results with its broader environmental testing solutions, such as ATP and indicator organism detection, provides its customers with deeper insight into specific process control efforts. Through the modernization and automation of food safety data collection and entry processes, operators are overcoming food traceability obstacles, which is resulting in a more transparent supply chain.

Learn how to use Hygiena’s EnSURE Touch instrument here.

Hygiena: www.hygiena.com