2011 Annual Report 1a.Objectives (from AD-416) Develop and improve immunoassays for detection of peanut and/or tree nut, and soy allergen residues before and after processing (i.e. roasting, baking into cookies, etc). 1b.Approach (from AD-416) Either subject various products containing peanuts, tree nuts, soy proteins, or the nuts themselves to different processes, or acquire existing marketed products and optimize methods to: • Extract allergenic food proteins with the highest efficiency to enable detection. • Develop antibodies against the various processed forms of the allergenic foods. • Utilize antibodies to develop various immunological detection methods. • Assure that the antibodies do not cross-react with other foods, and to characterize cross-reactivity if they do. 3.Progress Report The development of specific and sensitive immunochemical methods for the detection of allergenic food residues remains a critical need for the food industry and regulatory agencies. The Food Allergy Research and Resource Program (FARRP) at the University of Nebraska has completed the development of ELISAs (a technique using antibodies to detect proteins) for the detection of allergenic residues of a major tree nut allergen (pistachio) and buckwheat which is a common allergen in Japan. FARRP is also in the process of developing an ELISA for the detection of cashew residues in processed foods. ADODR used site visit, email and telephone conferences to monitor activities of the project.