Allergenicity Assessment of Emerging Food and Food Ingredients

Introduction of novel foods and food ingredients to the market presents challenges for allergenicity risk assessment. The rise in consumer demand for new and innovative food products, driven by globalization, the desire for reduced animal protein intake, and the opportunities provided by technological advancements, has resulted in a significant diversification of available and future food items. These range from exotic novel foods to genetically modified organisms (GMOs), plant-based proteins and unconventional food sources like insects, fungi or cultured meat. While these innovations promise to meet evolving dietary allergenic risks. The regulatory framework for novel foods has traditionally been designed to accommodate the allergenicity risk assessment of GMOs which typically introduce one novel protein per GMO. The framework focuses on assessing the risk for already food allergic patients. A weight of evidence approach, with a bioinformatic screening of allergen databases at its core, has proven to be quite effective for GMOs but may be less appropriate when complete genomes of whole novel foods are screened. This inevitably results in large numbers of hits of evolutionary conserved proteins. There is a need to discuss ways to adjust the regulatory framework to these new developments. Bioinformatic hits demand follow-up IgE serum screening but availability of appropriate sera remains challenging. Finally, perhaps the biggest challenge is to predict whether a novel food can become the source of a completely new food allergy based on a novel allergen family. So far, no tools are available that can reliably predict such events. This research topic will contribute to ongoing discussions on how to improve the allergenicity risk assessment process of novel foods.

This Research Topic aims to advance our understanding, our perception of, and methodologies for assessing the allergenicity of novel foods and ingredients. We seek to elucidate specific factors contributing to allergenic potential and to develop refined risk assessment tools for the accurate prediction of allergenicity. By addressing these objectives, the research efforts aim to safeguard consumers while facilitating the innovation of safe and diverse food offerings.

To gather further insights, we welcome articles addressing, but not limited to, the following themes:
o Regulatory frameworks and guidelines for allergenicity assessment
o Identification, quantification and characterization of allergenic proteins in novel foods
o Development and validation of predictive allergenicity testing methods
o Impacts of processing and genetic modification on allergenic potential
o Consumer perceptions and communication strategies concerning allergen risks
o Reports on allergenicty risk assessment cases from companies
o Allergenicity evaluation of new food

Topic Editor Ronald van Ree is a consultant for AB Enzymes, The Protein Brewery, Mission MightyMe and Reacta Healthcare. AB Enzymes and The Protein Brewery are in the novel food/food ingredient arena. Mission MightyMe markets products for primary prevention of food allergy, and Reacta Healthcare for diagnostic food challenges. The other Topic Editors report no competing interests related to this Research Topic.

Article types and fees

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Case Report
• Clinical Trial
• Community Case Study
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• FAIR² DATA Direct Submission
• General Commentary
• Hypothesis and Theory
• ... View all formats

Articles that are accepted for publication by our external editors following rigorous peer review incur a publishing fee charged to Authors, institutions, or funders.

Article types

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Case Report
• Clinical Trial
• Community Case Study
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• FAIR² DATA Direct Submission
• General Commentary
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• Opinion
• Original Research
• Perspective
• Review
• Study Protocol
• Systematic Review

Keywords: Allergenicity, Novel foods, Food ingredients, Risk assessment, Food allergy, Food safety, Genetically modified organisms (GMOs), Plant-based proteins, Allergenic proteins, Consumer perception, Regulatory framework

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.