An agricultural researcher at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University in the United States has developed
a simple post-harvest process which he says will make peanuts allergen-free.
The new process - believed to be a first for food science - could provide relief to millions of peanut allergy sufferers and be an enormous boon to the entire peanut industry.
Uni spokesman Doug Speight said food companies would have a strong interest in licensing the process which he says does not degrade the taste or quality and might even render them easier to process for use as a food ingredient.
Immunoassays showed 100 per cent inactivation of peanut allergens in whole roasted kernels.
The processed peanuts also showed no reaction in tests on human sera from severely allergic individuals.
The inventor,
Dr Mohamed Ahmedna, (
right), is Associate Professor of Food Science in the university's School of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences.
"We are extremely pleased that we are well on the way to finding a solution to a vexing problem that has enormous economic and public health ramifications, both for peanut sensitive individuals and the food industry as a whole," he said.
During the course of the project, he has developed many other value-added products and processes for the benefit of the peanut industry, including:
- A process to remove a common mould toxin from peanuts,
- A low-fat, high protein meat substitute,
- An infant formula, and
- Antioxidants from red peanut skins.
He is now optimising the process further to remove allergens from other foods.
The allergy-free peanut is the first in a portfolio of peanut innovations which will be available for commercialisation from North Carolina A&T.
