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.