Food allergy is an increasing health problem, whereby plant allergens are one of the major source eliciting allergenic reactions. Ninety percent of birch pollen allergic
patients develop intolerances to fruits and vegetables. Antibodies against Bet v 1, the major birch pollen allergen, cross-react with Bet v 1-homolog proteins present in a
variety of fruits and vegetables. Bet v 1 and Bet v 1-homolog proteins belong to the family 10 of pathogenesis-related proteins (PR-10). In plants PR-10 proteins are
induced in various stress conditions, e.g. pathogen attack, wounding or environmental factors. The amount of allergens is influenced by pre- and post-harvesting factors,
such as cultivar, organic or conventional cultivation and storage conditions as well as different processing methods. The aim of the project is to develop an Enzyme Linked
Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) to determine the allergen content in fruits (apple, strawberry, plum, tomato) and processed food products (apple juice, strawberry jam).
The influence of organic versus conventional farming on the allergen content will be investigated. Furthermore, the effects of different processing techniques will be analyzed
