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With 15% the fraction of proteins in walnuts is high. Some of these proteins are known for being allergenic, such as rJug r 1 and rJug r 4. Many of them are heat resistant making them stable to different production processes. For this reason walnut represents an important food allergen. For walnut allergic persons hidden walnut allergens in food are a critical problem.
Already very low amounts of walnut can cause allergic reactions, which may lead to anaphylactic shock in severe cases. Because of this, walnut allergic persons must strictly avoid the consumption of walnuts or walnut containing food.
Cross-contamination, mostly in consequence of the production process, is often noticed. The chocolate production process is a representative example. This explains why in many cases the existence of walnut residues in food cannot be excluded. For this reason sensitive detection systems for walnut residues in foodstuffs are required.
The SENSISpec Walnut ELISA represents a highly sensitive detection system and is particularly capable of the quantification of walnut residues in cookies, cereals, ice cream and chocolate.