Advances in biotechnology have the potential to bring foods containing proteins derived from genes of non-food origin into the marketplace. Assessing the potential allergenicity of these transgenic proteins as part of the overall food safety evaluation process presents a challenge for the
biotechnology industry. In 1996, the International
Food Biotechnology Council and the ILSI Allergy and Immunology Institute jointly developed a decision-tree approach based on available data, and recommended that several factors be considered, including the primary amino acid sequences and physiochemical properties of proteins derived from non-food sources compared with those of known allergens. To evaluate