Emerging Nonthermal Technologies for Allergen Reduction in Foods: A Systematic Review

Food allergies are one of the globally recognized public health concerns due to developments in food production and processing technology. It is difficult to prevent the intake of food allergens due to the complex nature of food products. Food researchers are striving to find innovative techniques to remove allergy-causing agents and produce nonallergenic food products. The prime objective of this study was to assemble the latest information to produce hypoallergenic food with the help of emerging technologies including irradiation, high-pressure processing (HPP), pulsed ultraviolet light (PUL), pulsed electric fields (PEFs), cold plasma, ultrasound, and their combination. Classification of food allergy, epitope description, identification method, and clinical manifestations are also presented. Studies showed that processing technologies reduce allergenicity while retaining the sensory and nutritional integrity of food products. The effectiveness of each method appears to be highly dependent on the specific food matrix, the type of allergen, and the processing parameters used. Among the technologies discussed, cold plasma, HPP, and ultrasound demonstrated the most significant reduction in food allergenicity, while irradiation and PEF were less effective. Notably, combining multiple nonthermal technologies emerged as the most promising strategy to develop hypoallergenic foods with minimal compromise to quality. We anticipate that these findings will provide a thorough understanding of food allergy mechanisms in reducing food immunoreactivity and an approach for better industrial application.