One of the biggest challenges facing the world is the need to provide protein security in the face of a growing global population. Current estimates predict that ~70 per cent more food will be required for the growing global population, which will reach 9.7 billion by 2050. We need to meet this food gap while maintaining planetary health. We must do this with limited resources, without increasing our agricultural footprint. To this end, different crops and food sources from pulses to insects to algae and more are being explored. As we start to pivot towards these under-utilised resources, there is potential for increasing prevalence of allergy or cross-reactivity.
Plant-based sources are under increasing demand to provide new protein ingredients. Lupin seeds with an average protein content of 35-44% are an emerging source of alternative protein. Lupin fortified foods have many health-promoting benefits such as lowering cholesterol and blood pressure, managing glucose levels and helping to fight obesity by lowering energy intake while increasing satiety. The sweet lupin varieties such as narrow-leafed lupin (Lupinus angustifolius) are increasingly popular pulse crops, because of their nutritional and nutraceutical properties in addition to their lower content of anti-nutritional alkaloids. Lupin also contains proteins that can trigger life-threatening anaphylaxis.
Insects have been consumed by people for millennia and have recently been proposed as a complementary, sustainable source of protein to feed the world’s growing population. The development of insects for food requires technology to explore their allergenic potential. Insects and crustaceans both belong to the arthropod family. Crustacean (shellfish) allergies are relatively common and potentially severe; hence, the cross-reactivity of the immune system with insect proteins (e.g. tropomyosin and arginine kinase) is a potential health concern.
In this presentation, the role of proteomics to characterise allergens in novel and emerging protein sources will be discussed.