Certain cleaning strategies, validation prevent allergen cross-contamination during processing.

Consumers with food allergies rely on product labels to disclose the presence of allergenic ingredients in products. However, undeclared allergens can be inadvertently introduced into a product by cross-contact during its manufacture.

Shared processing equipment that is poorly cleaned may be a cause of such cross-contact and contamination. A project at the National Center for Food Safety and Technology has examined cleaning protocols for removing allergenic foods from food-contact surfaces, as well as techniques for validating the efficacy of cleaning. Investigators in