Capability of commercial cleaning procedures to remove food allergens from differing food contact materials and containers using sesame as a target analyte

Effective cleaning is required to remove food allergen contamination and prevent unintended or undeclared food allergen presence in products. Limited information is available regarding the efficacy of cleaning methods to remove food allergens and the effects on stability, retention or detection of food allergens in food processing environments. This research aims to evaluate the capability of established commercial warewashing processes to remove food allergen soil containing sesame protein from differing food contact materials and containers, monitoring the impact of wash cycles, temperature and material surface characteristics on allergen stability, retention and detection. This study demonstrates that after applying current commercial warewashing procedures all studied materials retained varying amounts of food allergen soil (1.6 – >10.0 mg/kg total sesame protein), despite appearing visually clean, and that warewashers can readily transfer food allergens to subsequent wash cycles and onto food contact surfaces in them (>10.0 mg/kg total sesame protein). This research identified polypropylene plastic as the hardest food contact material to clean and glass jars as the easiest container material to clean. Analytical results were compared to action levels calculated with reference doses based on ED01, ED05 and rounded from ED05, identifying that minimum or maximum levels for products contained in all container types post-washing had risk ratios ≥1, presenting potential health risks to consumers with food allergy. Further research is required to develop capable, hygienically designed and easily cleanable automatic cleaning processes and reusable food contact materials and containers to support robust scientifically validated cleaning procedures to remove food allergens. • Post-washing, all studied materials retained varying amounts of food allergen soil. • Warewashers can transfer food allergens to food contact surfaces in later washes. • Of the food contact materials tested polypropylene plastic was hardest to clean. • Of the food contact containers tested glass jars were easiest to clean. • Remaining food allergen amounts post-washing present potential food allergen risks.