Hygiena, a global leader in food safety testing, is excited to launch two new additions to its rapid allergen testing line, Alertox® sticks peanut and Alertox® sticks walnut. These rapid tests are designed for the detection of peanut and walnut antigens by the food processing industry in their food, kitchen, and production facilities. Allergic reactions to both peanut and walnut can range from mild irritation to life-threatening conditions, and the nut residue can be found in a wide variety of foods. Therefore, preventing cross-contamination during food processing is vitally important as it gives consumers reassurance of food quality and safety.

Hygiena’s new and improved peanut allergen test provides a simple and effective way to monitor the risk from peanut residue. This lateral flow device has high sensitivity with a wide dynamic range of detection from 1 to 10,000 ppm of peanut protein in food samples and no interference from other food components. It is validated for products, liquids, and surface analysis.

The test specifically identifies peanut antigen and does not detect the antigens of cereals, seeds, milk, cocoa, other legumes, or tree nuts including pecan, walnut, hazelnut, almond, macadamia, pistachio, cashew, brazil nut, chestnut, pine nut, and coconut. For quantitation of peanut antigen, additional testing can be done with the Alertox® ELISA peanut kit.

The Alertox® sticks walnut has a limit of detection of 2ppm of walnut protein in food samples.  It is also validated of surfaces for cleaning verification.  Using monoclonal antibodies to detect allergenic protein in walnut (juglans regia), the test does not cross-react with the closely related tree nut pecan (carya illinoinensis), or other allergens.

Both products represent a cost-effective and rapid solution as the procedure only takes a few minutes and there is no equipment required as all additional elements are included in the 10 test pack. With the addition of peanut and walnut, Hygiena now offers a total of 12 allergen tests in our Alertox sticks portfolio, each validated for product, surface, and liquid samples. Tests include includes milk (casein and beta-lactoglobulin separately or combined), egg, fish, crustacean, soy, mustard seed, almond, hazelnut, and now walnut and peanut.