Potential life-saver takes risk from nuts

A new method for removing allergens from peanuts may help millions of people with a potentially life-threatening allergy to the popular food, the US Department of Agriculture said.

In a blog post, the agency said researchers at North Carolina A&T State University had found a way to reduce peanut allergens by 98 per cent to 100 per cent by focusing on certain proteins that can trigger food-related anaphylaxis, a severe, whole-body allergic reaction.

"We found that treating peanuts with protein-breaking enzymes reduced allergenic proteins," said Jianmai Yu, a food and nutrition researcher at the university, said.

The university has signed an agreement with Xemerge, a Toronto-based firm that commercialises emerging technologies in food and agriculture, to research the marketing potential of hypoallergenic peanut products.

"This is one of the best technologies in the food and nutrition space we have seen," Johnny Rodrigues, chief commercialisation officer of Xemerge, said on the university's website.

"It checks all the boxes: non-GMO, patented, human clinical data, does not change physical characteristics of the peanut."

The treatment is effective whether peanuts were whole, broken into pieces or ground into flour, USDA said. It had also shown promise in wheat, one of the top eight food allergens in the United States, and tree nuts.