Surface plasmon resonance (SPR) sensors for detecting allergens in food

Food allergy is a growing public health concern. Patients suffering from food allergies need to avoid the offending food in order to avoid getting an allergic response. There is a need for a quick, cheap and reliable point-of-care (POC) sensor for household use and for industry use. Surface plasmon resonance (SPR) is an upcoming technique in the food allergen field. It has shown great potential for studying biomolecular interactions without extensive sample preparations such as the removal of excess reactants in sample solutions. Food sample preparation will be reduced to a minimum. Furthermore, this method is very sensitive and able to detect also trace amounts of food allergens.