Hello, Tim.
Testing for minute amounts of peanut proteins is a rather complex
procedure. While several kits utilizing a technique known as ELISA
(Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay) are available, they are far from
ideal for the typical restaurant customer, since they utilize
multi-step procedures that take at least half an hour to produce
results. These products are designed for the restaurant itself, or
other food-providing entity, to detect the presence of small amounts
of peanut substances, and thereby ensure the safety of the foods for
consumption by peanut-sensitive individuals.
Here are several options you may want to investigate further:
-----------------------------
Food Allergens are proteins in food that create an immune response in
sensitive individuals. Once ingested, food allergens can cause a
number of reactions, ranging in severity from hives and itching to
anaphylaxis... Testing for the presence of components ensures food
manufacturers that an unlabelled and potentially dangerous ingredient
did not make its way unintentionally into a product during
manufacture.
ELISA SYSTEMS has a range of rapid ELISA kits to detect these
residues...
Peanut Allergen
One of the most rapid and effective screening test kits available
today. This kit will detect a heat stable Peanut allergen and can
give you rapid, semi-quantitative results in about 30 minutes.
Elisas.com.au
http://www.elisas.com.au/prod05.htm
(While the product above cannot be ordered online, the site gives
options for obtaining more information by submitting your contact
data.)
-----------------------------
Here are other sources of peanut-protein testing kits:
Elisa-tek.com
http://www.elisa-tek.com/peanut.htm
Tepnel.com
http://www.tepnel.com/ag_bio_and_food_testing/allergen_products.asp
Neogen.com
http://www.neogen.com/verapeanut2.htm
R-biopharm.com
http://www.r-biopharm.com/foodandfeed/ridascreen_peanut.php
-----------------------------
You may find it helpful to join a peanut allergy support group. There
are such groups in many urban areas, and at least one large online
messageboard which I highly recommend:
PeanutAllergy.com
http://www.peanutallergy.com/bbpage.htm
If you are interested in finding more information on the Web, here you
will find seven pages of links to articles on the subject of peanut
allergy:
http://allallergy.net/articles/index.cfm/cdeoc/FG/entered/z/rview/z/whom/z/tingra/1/page/p1
My Google search strategy:
"peanut" + "test kit"
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=peanut+%22test+kit
"peanut allergy" + "support group"
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=%22peanut+allergy%22+support+group
I hope this helps. I wish you well in coping with your allergy.
Perhaps in the future, testing will be simpler, and it will be easier
for you to enjoy a restaurant meal without going through elaborate
measures.
Best regards,
pinkfreud |
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