Mustard allergen alert: recalls from the market

Undeclared allergens in food products were again a major driver of recalls and withdrawals in 2021. In recent months, several alerts have been notified for the presence of mustard in wheat chain products such as pasta.

Mustard in pasta?

Mustard is commonly known as a sauce used for salad dressings or hamburgers.

Besides its common use, however, it also has fungicidal activities and it is used in rotation with wheat by using the technique of green manure in order to defend cultures from fungal attacks. Therefore besides offering organic substance to the soil, improving its structure and enriching it with nutrients, it also has defensive purposes. For this reason it is possible to find mustard residuals in bakery products such as pasta, cookies, bread etc. due to cross-contamination.

In order to prevent incidents of cross-contamination, it is recommended to implement controls on materials, evaluating the possibility of searching for mustard as an allergen in order to guarantee its absence in finished products.

ChemService offers an accredited analysis service with ELISA method able to quantify the analyte. Moreover, if requested, we can support the determination of mustard by PCR - a method based on the presence of DNA in the sample. The execution of the analysis in duplicate guarantees a reliable result in the most complex matrices, where it not infrequently happens to have problems of interference with other analytes.

Find out more and see the list of all our accredited allergens!

Further information:
info@chemservice.it

Back