It's the only commercially available test to quickly detect egg cross-contamination. Cross-contamination occurs when allergenic food residue gets into another food processed on shared equipment. Processing foods on the same equipment is common and economically necessary, said Sue Hefle, a food toxicologist and co-director of NU's Food Allergy Research and Resource Program. A person who's allergic to eggs would know to avoid egg nog during the holidays, Taylor said. However, if a company processes egg nog and then milk without properly sanitizing its equipment, an egg-allergic person could unwittingly develop an allergic reaction after drinking that milk, he said.
Egg allergies can cause severe illness and death.
The past three years, undeclared egg residues have led to recalls of 102 food products in the United States, Hefle said. The 30-minute test can replace tests that took days to complete in a laboratory. The test will be of most interest to processors of pasta, ice cream, milk, baby food and salad dressing, the company said. In August 1998, Neogen commercialized a Nebraska-developed peanut allergy test. A test for casein, a milk component, should be commercialized in 1999, Taylor said.