Dear Steve
An addition to the reference list Pamela sent you: O'Neil, C.E. & Lehrer, S.B., 1995, Seafood allergy and allergens: a review, Food Technology, 49, (10), 103-116. probably doesn't add anything to the first paper on Pam's list.
I have just checked PubMed (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi) and searched using the terms 'allergy molluscs' resulting in 119 hits. Some of these refer to land molluscs and most are highly technical research papers, but there are a few reviews which might be worth following up. A search on terms 'allergy scallops' gave 1 hit which I show below.
Peter Howgate
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Ann. Allergy Asthma. Immunol. 2000 Dec;85(6 Pt 1):461_6.
Comment in:
Ann. Allergy Asthma Immunol. 2000 Dec;85(6 Pt 1):431-3.
Occupational asthma in a seafood restaurant worker: cross_reactivity of shrimp and scallops.
Goetz DW, Whisman BA.
Allergy Immunology Department, Wilford Hall Medical Center, Lackland Air Force Base, Texas, USA. dwgoetz@pol.net
BACKGROUND: The case of a restaurant seafood handler with IgE-mediated occupational asthma and contact urticaria to both shrimp and scallops is presented. Independent hypersensitivity to both seafoods was demonstrated by skin testing, inhalation challenge, and immunoassays. Bronchial challenge with extracts of shrimp and scallops each produced an isolated early asthmatic response. OBJECTIVE: To investigate cross-reactivity of shrimp (phylum Arthropoda) and scallops (phylum Mollusca). METHODS: Shrimp and scallops extracts were prepared from raw seafood and seafood boiling water. Distillate was collected over boiling shrimp. Specific-IgE ELISA and immunoblot assays were accomplished for shrimp and scallops extracts inhibited by each other. RESULTS: SDS-PAGE of shrimp boiling water and distillate showed similar protein patterns. SDS-PAGE and immunoblot demonstrated prominent protein allergens for shrimp boiling water at 21, 26, and 35 to 38 kD; for raw shrimp at 26 and 38 kD; for scallops boiling water at 20, 35 to 39 and 42 kD; and for raw scallops at 36 to 38 and 41 kD. Significant inhibition of the 35 to 39 kD band of each shrimp and scallops extract was demonstrated on immunoblot inhibition by seafood of the opposite phylum. IgE ELISA inhibition demonstrated 17% to 28% inhibition of shrimp by scallops and scallops by shrimp. CONCLUSIONS: Seafood allergens aerosolized during food preparation are a source of potential respiratory and contact allergens. Shrimp and scallops demonstrate significant cross-reactivity. These findings confirm that the primary cross-reactive allergen of shrimp (phylum Arthropoda) and scallops (phylum Mollusca) is the 35 to 39 kD heat-stable allergen, previously demonstrated to be muscle topomyosin in both phyla.
----- Original Message -----
From: Steve.Saunders@highlinerfoods.com
To: Seafood research and extension information exchange
Sent: Tuesday, January 13, 2004 7:16 PM
Subject: Allergies to Molluscs and specifically Scallops
I'm finding references to food allergies to molluscs and specifically scallops to be rather scarce. Can anyone on Seafood@UCDavis provide some references? One source only refers to Octopus and Squid (as molluscs) in terms of a 4-group seafood allergen cluster analysis. See:
http://www.allergyclinic.co.nz/guides/51.html
>From a HACCP perspective, at what point must we ensure that the different seafood allergens (fish, shrimp and molluscs) remain separate? These animals swim together, eat each other and then we harvest them together. I've seen groundfish landed at shore plants with shrimp still dangling from their mouths as they move on conveyer belts to filleting. What is the "critical" point in seafood harvesting and processing at which we must separate the different seafood allergens to protect seafood-allergic consumers?
Steve Saunders
High Liner Foods Inc. Box 910, Lunenburg NS B0J 2C0 Canada
Telephone 902-634-8811 Fax 902-634-4481
http://www.highlinerfoods.com
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