Investigation of the Allergenic Potential of Wines Fined with Various Proteinogenic Fining Agents by ELISA

Hidden allergens are a common problem in food safety that has been known for many years. This is why the European Parliament adopted Directive 2003/89/EC amending 2000/13/EC. In addition to specific ingredients, Directive 2003/89/EC also requests the declaration of specific products that were used in the production and could be a risk for allergic individuals. This also includes the declaration of fining agents and lysozyme used in wines. In fact, it could be assumed that fining agents would be almost completely removed during the manufacturing process; however, until now there has been no necessity to analyze wine for these fining agents. By applying enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), residuals of fining agent proteins and the stabilizer lysozyme were investigated in various German wines. The results showed no detectable amounts of fining agents in wines, except for dried egg white and lysozyme, both derived from hen's egg white. For those products, adverse reactions against treated wines could not be excluded. Keywords: Wine; fining agent; allergen; allergy; isinglass; lysozyme; food allergy; hidden allergens; immunoassay; fish gelatin; hen's egg protein; ovalbumin; casein