2. Introduction
Food allergens can be defined as “ an adverse health effect
arising from a specific immune that occurs reproducibly
on exposure to a given food”
Food allergy is among the disease considered to be part of
the Atopic March. Also known as the Allergic March, this
term refers to the progression of allergic diseases in a
person’s life: eczema, food allergy, allergic rhinitis and
asthma.
3. Q. What causes a Food Allergy?
Ans: The job of the body’s immune system is to identify
and destroy germs (such as bacteria or viruses) that
make you sick. A food allergy happens when your
immune system overreacts to a harmless food protein
thus causes an allergy.
The eight most food allergens are milk, egg, peanut, tree
nuts, soy, wheat, fish and shellfish.
4. Common food Allergens
1. Milk Allergy
Cow’s milk allergy is the most common
food allergy in infants and young children. Even though
most children eventually outgrow their allergy to milk,
milk allergy is also among the most common food
allergies in adults.
When a person with a milk allergy is exposed to milk,
proteins in the milk binds to specific IgE antibodies
made by the person’s immune system. This triggers the
person’s immune defenses , leading to reaction
symptoms that can be mild or severe.
5. 2. Wheat allergy
When a person with a wheat allergy is
exposed to wheat, proteins in the wheat bind to specific
IgE antibodies made by the person’s immune system.
The binding triggers the person’s immune defenses ,
leading to reacton symptoms.
Wheat allergy is most often reported in
young children and may affect up to 1% of children in
the U.S
6. 3. Soy allergy
Soy allergy is more common in infants and
young children than in older children and approximately
0.4% of infants in the U.S. have soy allergy.
Soybeans are a member of the legume family. Beans, peas,
lentils and peanuts are also legumes. While it is rare for
peanut allergic patients to react to soy, the reverse is not true.
One study found that up to 88 % of soy-allergic patients had
peanut allergy or were significantly sensitized to peanut.
Individuals with soy allergy were more likely to be allergic
or sensitized to major allergens including peanuts, tree nuts,
egg, milk and sesame than to non-peanut legumes such as
beans, peas and lentils.
7. Food adulteration
• A food adulteration may be defined as any materials
which is added to food or any substances which
adversely affects the nature, substance and quality of the
food.
• Commonly adulterated foods
Foods which are in a powder, minced or paste form are more likely to
be adulterated.
Foods grains like wheat, rice, pulses and their products like wheat flour,
semolina, gram flour
Edible oils and fats e.g. sunflower oil, safflower oils, mustard oil,
vanaspati.
Milk and milk products example ghee and milk powder.
Coffee and tea.
Sweetening agent like sugar and honey.
Non-alcoholic beverages like aerated rinks, squashes, juices, sherbets
8. • Common adulterants
Food items Adulterant detected
Milk Antibiotics residues, formalin, boric acid, pesticide
residues, neutralizers like sodium bicarbonate, urea, water,
sugar, starch, foreign fat.
Milk powder Pesticide residues, sugar, starch, fat, excessive moisture.
Ghee and
Vanaspati
Extraneous colour, animal body fat, hydrogenated
vegetable oils, excessive moisture.
Edible oils Castor oils, mineral oil, argemone oil, oil soluble colours,
aflatoxin, pesticide residues and cheaper vegetable oils.
Spices Non-permitted colours, mineral oil coating, husk starch,
foreign seeds/resins, extraneous matter, exhausted spices.
Coffee Chicory, date or tamarind seeds, artificial colour
Tea Colour, iron filings, foreign leaves, exhausted leaves.
9. • Methods for detection of common adulterants
o Simple visual tests
o Simple physical tests
o Simple chemical tests
Food Adulterant Method of detection
Pulses,
whole and
split
Kesari dal Kesari dal is wedge shaped, with a slant
on one side and a square face on the
other side.
Mustard
seeds
Argemone seeds Argemone seeds have a rough surface
with a little tail at one end. Mustard
seeds are smooth. Upon pressing,
mustard seeds are yellow inside while
argemone seeds are white.
Black
pepper
Papaya seeds Papaya seeds are comparatively
shrunken oval, and greenish brown to
brownish black in colour
10. • Simple physical tests for detecting adulterants
Food Adulterant Method of detection
Milk Water Measure the specific gravity with a lactometer by
immersing it in milk kept in a deep vessel. The normal
value lie between 1.028-1.032., lower the value indicates
added water
Tea leaves,
suji
Iron fillings Easily separated by passing a magnet over surface of
food.
Honey Sugar
solution
A cotton wick dipped in pure honey burns smoothly
when lighted. If water is present it will not allow the
honey to burn or burn with crackling sound is produced.
Coffee Chicory Sprinkle coffee powder on the surface of water in glass.
Coffee floats while chicory starts sinking leaving a trail of
colour, due to a large amount of caramel.
Tea Artificial
colour
Put the tea leaves on a moistened blotting paper.
Artificial dyed tea will impart color.
Milk Developed
acidity
5 ml of milk in boiling water bath for 5 mins. And shake
in horizontal way, formation of float indicates acidity of
milk.
11. • Simple chemical tests for detecting adulterants
Food Adulterant Method of detection
Milk, milk
products,
powdered spices
Starch Mix sample in the test tube with water, add a few
drops of iodine solution. Blue colour indicates the
presence of starch
Milk, milk
powder
Neutralizers
like
carbonates
5 ml milk in test tube and add 5 ml of alcohol and
few drops of rosalic acid and mix well. Rose red
indicates the presence of carbonates.
Ghee, butter Margarine
or vanaspati
One tea spoon full of melted sample, add 5ml
conc. HCL. Shake for 5 mins: add a pinch of sugar.
Appearance of pink colour in the acid layer
indicates the presence of metanil yellow.
Ice cream and
beverages,
pulses,spices
Metanil
yellow
Extract colour with lukewarm water from food
samples and add a few drops of concentrated
HCL. A magenta colour indicates the presence of
metanil yellow.
Pulses, whole
and split, besan
Kesari dal Put a sample in dilute HCL acid. Pink colour
develops indicating the presence of kesari dal.
Silver foil Aluminium To metal foil add 2 drops of conc. Nitric acid in a
test tube. The silver foil will completely dissolve
whereas the Al foil remains undissolved.
12. Food nutrition
• Nutrition: Nutrition is the biochemical and physiological
process by which an organism uses food to support its life.
It includes ingestion, absorption, biosynthesis, catabolism
and excretion
• There are 6 essential nutrients that the body needs to
function properly.
13. Macronutrients
• Carbohydrates:
Carbohydrates are the body’s primary fuel.
They provide energy for your muscles and the central
nervous system during movement and exercise.
Carbohydrates are the sugars, starches and fibers found in
fruits, grains, vegetables and milk products.
14. • Protein:
Protein is essential to many processes in the body. It
provides structure to the tissue. That includes cell
membranes, organs, muscle, hair, skin, nails, bones,
tendons, ligaments and blood plasma. Proteins are
involved in metabolic, hormonal and enzyme systems and
help maintain acid-base balance in our bodies.
15. • Fat:
Fat is vital for the body as an energy reserve, for
insulation and protection of your organs, and for absorption
and transport of fat-soluble vitamins. Most of the nutrients in
food fall into three major groups: proteins, fats, and
carbohydrates. The body uses fat as a fuel source, and fat is
the major storage form of energy in the body. Some
examples of foods that contain fats are butter, oil, nuts, meat,
fish, and some dairy products.
16. Micronutrients
• Vitamin :
A vitamin is an organic molecule that is an essential
micronutrient which an organism needs in small quantities for
the proper functioning of its metabolism. Most vitamins need
to come from food because the body either does not produce
them or produces very little. Each organism has different
vitamin requirements.
17. • Minerals:
Minerals are those elements on the earth and in
foods that our bodies need to develop and function normally.
Minerals are essential for health include calcium, phosphorus,
potassium, sodium, chloride, magnesium, iron, zinc, iodine,
chromium, copper, fluoride, molybdenum, manganese, and
selenium. Minerals do not produce energy.
18. • Water:
Water, a vital nutrient, has numerous critical roles in
the human body. All biochemical reactions occur in water.
Water is also required for digestion, absorption,
transportation, dissolving nutrients, elimination of waste
products and thermoregulation.
19. • Function of Food Our body uses food to perform four
main function:
1. Energy Food supplies the fuel or energy needed to
perform the many tasks of everyday living. We need
energy to think, breath, walk, sit, speak, workout and
even sleep. We get energy from carbohydrates, proteins
and fats. It is important that we eat enough food to
supply all our needs. If we eat more energy food than
our body needs, this energy will be stored in the body
as fat. Too much accumulation of fat will result in the
body becoming overweight or obese.
20. 2. Growth and Repair Food provides material needs to
build, repair and maintain body tissues. Protein fats
and minerals are the best nutrients for growth.
Growing bodies need extra amounts of these nutrients.
Every person whether growing or not, is going through
a continual repair process of replacing injured or dead
cells. It is food that supplies the nutrients necessary for
this process.
21. • Regulation Food supplies the substances and
compounds that help to regulate the body’s processes.
Water, vitamins and minerals help regulate breathing,
the nervous system, A Special Book for Food Safety
Officer Page 365 digestion, blood circulation and the
elimination of waste products from the body. They help
keep all the system in the body working properly.
• Protection Foods rich in vitamins and minerals are
referred to as protective foods as they provide immunity
and protect our body from various diseases and
infections. Vitamins, mineral and protein keep the body’s
tissue and organs healthy. Healthy organs are less likely
to be attacked by disease.
22. MALNUTRITION
• Malnutrition refers to when a person's diet does not provide
enough nutrients or the right balance of nutrients for optimal
health. Causes of malnutrition include inappropriate dietary
choices, a low income, difficulty obtaining food, and various
physical and mental health conditions. Malnutrition is a
condition that results from eating a diet which does not supply
a healthy amount of one or more nutrients. This includes diets
that have too little nutrients or so many that the diet causes
health problems. The nutrients involved can include calories,
protein, carbohydrates, fat, vitamins or minerals. A lack of
nutrients is called undernutrition or undernourishment while a
surplus of nutrients cases over nutrition.
24. • Malnutrition is most often used to refer to undernutrition -
when an individual is not getting enough calories, protein,
or micronutrients. If undernutrition occurs during pregnancy,
or before two years of age, it may result in permanent
problems with physical and mental development. Extreme
undernourishment, known as starvation or chronic hunger,
may have symptoms that include: a short height, thin body,
very poor energy levels, and swollen legs and abdomen.
Those who are malnourished often get infections and are
frequently cold. The symptoms of micronutrient deficiencies
depend on the micronutrient that is lacking
25. Food consciousness
• Conscious eating is really all about awareness and giving
yourself a chance to think and feel about where your body
and state of mind are. So when you come to the table don’t
just bring a food, bring your awareness to yourself to your
body and thoughts