Food Allergy: Prevalence and Food Technology Approaches for the Control of IgE-mediated Food Allergy

IgE?mediated food allergy (FA) is a reproducible adverse immune reaction to certain proteins in food matrices and the only available treatment is to avoid the allergen of interest. Establishing the accurate prevalence of IgE?mediated FA is challenging as a number of factors affect the estimates and relevance of the type of FA. Based on recent studies, clinical FA affects less than 5% of the population and has become a serious health concern. Thus, there is an increasing interest to find strategies to give a solution for dietary restrictions which affect the patients’ quality of life. In this frame, some food technologies are proposed as good tools to reduce the allergenic or sensitizing potential of food proteins. This review presents and discusses the current prevalence data of FA and addresses the main food technologies used to control IgE?mediated FA. Also, the implications of these food technologies on the functional properties of foods are discussed.