Food allergens are proteins in food that create an immune response insensitive individuals. Once ingested, food allergens can cause a number of reactions, ranging in severity from hives and itching to anaphylaxis.
Food manufacturers protect those with food allergies by clearly labelling their products with a list of ingredients. Testing for the presence of components ensures food manufacturers that an unlabelled and potentially dangerous ingredient did not make its way unintentionally into a product during manufacture.
