Christin Plassen

• Norwegian Veterinary Institute

The carry-over of certain feed components into animal products can be of concern for human health. The safety assessment of chemical contaminants including natural toxins, agrochemicals, veterinary drugs, and environmental pollutants is a key element of the “farm-to-fork” (“One Health”) approach. The transmissibility of proteinaceous feed constitue...

Wild-caught marine fish are potentially carrying parasites. Larvae of the nematode Anisakis simplex (herring or whale worm) occur in almost all commercially exploited fish stocks in temperate seas. The presence of A. simplex in fish and fish products is not only an economic concern but represents a significant consumer health risk. Anisakiasis, hum...

Wild-caught marine fish is potentially carrying parasites. Larvae of the nematode Anisakis simplex (herring or whale worm) occur in virtually all commercially exploited fish stocks in temperate seas. The Anisakis life cycle is complex involving planktonic crustaceans, fish and marine mammals. In fish, the larvae are mainly situated in the visceral...

Lupine is used increasingly in food products. The development of lupine allergy in peanut-allergic patients is believed to occur as a result of cross-reactivity between lupine and peanut proteins. To investigate the degree of immunoglobulin (Ig) E cross-reactivity between allergens in lupine and peanut. We investigated IgE cross-reactivity between...

The quality of an applied protein extract is important in both serological and in vivo diagnosis of allergy, and for allergen detection methods. In the present study the effects of the extraction procedure and hazelnut source on antibody binding to hazelnut (Corylus avellana) proteins were investigated. An overnight extraction procedure in tris–gly...

Allergy to fish represents one of the most prevalent causes for severe food-allergic reactions. Therefore, food authorities in different countries have implemented mandatory labeling of fish in pre-packed foods. Detection of fish proteins in food has previously been based on the use of patient serum. In the present study, a novel sandwich enzyme-li...

Troponin C, a Ca2+-binding protein of about 17 kDa, is part of the troponin complex on the actin filament in skeletal and cardiac muscle. It initiates muscle contraction upon binding of of Ca2+, undergoing a conformational change. Troponin C contains four EF-hand domains which are located at the C- and N-terminus of the amino acid sequence. The EF-...

Background: Fish is an important food, but also a common cause of immediate food allergy. Persons allergic to fish have to avoid food containing fish, even trace amounts may cause severe allergic reactions. The main allergen in fish is parvalbumin, a Ca2+-binding sarcoplasmatic protein of about 12 kDa. The content in fish muscles can be up to 2000...

Allergy to hazelnut is one of the most prevalent causes of severe food-allergic reactions in Norway, as recorded by The Norwegian National Reporting System and Register of Severe Allergic Reactions to Food. In the majority of the reported cases, there is "hidden", unlabelled hazelnut protein in processed foods like chocolate, cookies and cereal mix...

Allergy to hazelnut is one of the most prevalent causes for severe food-allergic reactions in Norway (Løvik et al.). In the majority of the reported cases is ”hidden”, unlabelled hazelnut corylin in confectionary foods like chocolate, cookies and cereals responsible for eliciting acute allergic incidents in sensitised consumers. Threshold levels va...

A rocket immunoelectrophoresis (RIE) method is described and compared with a commercial ELISA kit. Thirteen food products were selected from the categories sausage, rice pudding, fruit-ice, biscuit and baby-dinner. These had all tested negative for casein in a previous investigation using an older commercial ELISA kit. In the present study, using a...

Cobalt and copper concentrations were measured in 599 lamb livers collected at slaughter from 58 sheep flocks in 6 different parts of Norway in 1993. Information about pasture, additional feeding and mineral supplements in the flocks was obtained through a questionnaire. Average hepatic levels of cobalt in the lamb flocks varied from < 0.003 to 0.2...