Allergens
Food manufacturers are responsible for accurately listing the ingredients of their products on their food labels. Food labels are an important source of information for those individuals with food allergies, sensitivities or intolerances. As part of a robust quality system, testing for allergens lends to your confidence in your product’s safety, provides information for label compliance and helps to prevent costly recalls.
The Agriculture & Food Laboratory (AFL), at the University of Guelph offers Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) tests for all major food allergens. We provide accurate, timely results with the option of RUSH turn-around.
We offer quantitative assays for the following allergens in your raw and finished food products:
- Almond1
- Brazil nut
- Buckwheat
- Cashew
- Coconut1
- Crustacean (crab, crawfish, prawns, shrimp)
- Egg1
- Fish
- Gluten1 (wheat, other cereal grains)
- Hazelnut1
- Histamine
- Lupine
- Macadamia
- Milk1 (casein, β-lactoglobulin or total milk protein)
- Mollusk (clams, mussels, oysters, scallops)
- Peanut1
- Pecan1
- Pine Nut
- Pistachio
- Sesame1
- Soy1
- Walnut1
Please contact us if lupine testing is required.
1 The AFL is accredited under Laboratory Services Division by the Standards Council of Canada (SCC) for the allergen testing as listed in our Scope of Accreditation.
Sampling and Shipping Guidelines for Allergen Testing:
- Food (raw or processed), food ingredients and/or liquids: please send 50 mL/50 g or a representative sample of the product.
- For further information on food allergens (e.g. swab samples, ELISA testing, etc.), please contact us.
Mycotoxins
Mycotoxins are secondary metabolites of certain fungi that can have toxic or carcinogenic effects on animals or humans. They are ubiquitous in nature with hundreds of types having been identified worldwide. Our experienced staff use ELISA methods to test for mycotoxins. They are powerful analytical tools, providing cost-effective, quantitative analyses of a large number of samples in a short amount of time, with very low detection limits.
The following mycotoxin tests are available:
- Aflatoxin
- Fumonisin
- Ochratoxin
- T2
- Vomitoxin
- Zearalenone