Food allergy is an abnormal immunological response or allergic reaction when certain foods are consumed. It is considered a significant public health concern, affecting 1–2% of adults and 3–6% of children living in developed countries. Generally, over 170 foods can provoke allergenic reactions, but 90% of incidences are believed to be caused by allergenic proteins present in milk, egg, soy, crustacean/shellfish, fish, tree nut, peanut, and wheat. Regulation (EU) no 1169/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council of Oct 25, 2011, on the provision of food information to consumers lists fourteen substances or products causing allergies or intolerances, information of which (potential) presence should be informed to the consumers. However, many potentially allergenic individuals are unaware of their allergic reactions to certain foods until after consumption. Unfortunately, the best practice to prevent food allergies is to avoid consuming allergenic foods.

The study of food processing on allergen reactivity has focused mainly on thermal treatments; however, novel food processing techniques are being explored to create potentially hypoallergenic products. Nonthermal methods are advantageous as they can retain organoleptic properties and nutrient content frequently altered during thermal processing. The possible elimination of food allergens by applying different treatments, such as proteolysis, fermentation, or germination, was investigated. Although desirable for some food products, these processes are not relevant for all foods and, thus, do not have vast applications in reducing allergens from various food items. Multiple thermal and nonthermal techniques have been researched, which may be utilized to reduce the allergenicity of several food products without severely altering their inherent characteristics. The possible application of emerging technologies like dielectric-barrier discharge (DBD) or cold plasma in the reduction of allergens was the subject of some previously published articles.  While a few studies were published considering the application of emerging technologies in reducing allergens in food products, they can be considered a promising alternative for thermal processing techniques due to its favored effects on food quality. Besides, recent studies highlighted the higher efficiency of these technologies to eliminate microbial contamination besides anti-nutritional agents such as allergens compared with conventional thermal processing. However, the removal of other contaminations such as pesticides is among the other targets of the application of these technologies. In this context, the food industry is interested in understanding the scalability and applicability of these emerging approaches to the reduction of allergens. Moreover, due to the raised concerns regarding the biological and chemical safety of final products, the approach of suitable processing technique has always been associated with serious concerns. Among them, the biology-based process techniques such as fermentation are widely used as the most environmentally-friendly specific, and efficient approaches for the process of a wide range of food products. In addition, the application of newly introduced technology, such as cold plasma, ozone, irradiation, or enzymatic and bioremediation in improving the quality, safety, and nutrient values of food products is among the hot research topics. However, based on the available data, the application of emerging technologies alone or in combined with conventional techniques are in the primary stage of evaluation, their extensive applications for processing of food products, in order to deliver a safe product with high levels of quality and nutrient values, can be forecasted. Therefore, this Special Issue of QASF is inviting the researchers to submit their latest findings in this area as original research papers, systematic reviews, review articles, and short communications to -Special Issue: “Emerging Processing Technologies in eliminating of allergens from foods." Topics covered in this Special Issue include (but are not limited to):

-           Ohmic heating 

-           Microwave heating 

-           Moderate electric field (MEF)

-           Pulsed electric field (PEF)

-           Effects of high-pressure processing (HPP)

-           High voltage electrical field

-           Ultrasound

-           Cold plasma

-           The future perspectives of the emerging technologies in the degradation of anti-nutrimental compounds  of foods 

-           Challenges, standards, and procedures in the application of emerging technologies in removing of allergens

• Addressing new challenges for food safety for allergens in new food formulations 
• Raising the quality of treated products by using pretreatments to define the required levels for quality, safety, and nutrimental values of food products
• Aiding to establish the required standard for processed food products by the combined techniques

 

Keywords

• Emerging processing technologies
• sterilization
• Pasteurization
• Blanching
• Antinutrients
• Ohmic heating
• Microwave heating
• Moderate electric field
• Pulsed electric field
• High-pressure processing
• High voltage electrical field
• Ultrasound
• Cold plasma
• Allergens
• Agriculture products
• Conventional methods
• Fermentation

Guest Editor: 

Inquiries about the prospective submissions should be submitted to the guest editors:

Prof. Dr. Amin Mousavi Khaneghah

Email: [email protected] ; [email protected]; [email protected]

 

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online www.all-imm.com  by registering and logging in to the journal’s website. Once you are registered, go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All papers will be peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page of the journal.

 

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English.

Last Submission due date: December 10, 2022

Article-processing charges (APC):  USD 650 (Invited articles are free from publication fee)

 

This special issue is now open for submission.