Gestão de alergénios na indústria alimentar

Abstract

With the aim to complete the master’s in Biotechnology and Innovation at the School of Biotechnology of the Portuguese Catholic University in Porto, an internship was enrolled in a business environment with the goal of acquiring experience in what would become the future work reality. The internship took place at MC’s facilities in Maia, for the period of 6 months. During the internship I had the opportunity to work directly with the Análise Sensorial e Desenvolvimento de Produto team, from Direção de Qualidade&Investigação, in which I was allowed to monitor several tasks that made part of the daily routine of these departments. The main goal of the internship was to acquire experience and knowledge in the food industry, and to be able to, as much as possible, help solving problems and constraints that could arise. One of the constraints found that would be the subject of this master’s thesis was the issue of allergens in food products. The presence of trace allergens in food due to cross contamination is now a problem with growing impact on the food industry. This is because more individuals are susceptible to allergenic substances, limiting their choice when purchasing food products. For this matter, a detailed study was carried out on allergens in the food industry as well the possibility of assessing the risk of cross contamination of food throughout the production chain. At the end of the study, we concluded that there is still more information to be studied and gathered regarding allergen management in the industry. It was found that although allergen hygiene protocols exist and are implemented, there is still room to create other strategies that support a more efficient management of allergens, since generalized preventive measures continue to be adopted, namely the labelled indication of all allergens that enter the factory premises, without tests being carried out to confirm their existence in the final product. For this reason, it is necessary to develop more scientific research, from which concrete and reasoned decisions can be taken regarding how allergens should be managed, namely the development of other methods for detection of these substances and their standardization. It is also mandatory that more comprehensive studies are carried out to verify whether there are minimal amounts of allergens from which an allergic reaction is triggered in most individuals, in order to understand if it will be possible to remove preventive labelling of products regarding this matter.

Date of Award	27 Jul 2023
Original language	Portuguese
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Sara Margarida Bernardes Queda da Silva (Supervisor) & Joana Cristina Barbosa (Co-Supervisor)