Food allergy is an adverse immune response to a normally tolerated food protein.44 Generally, food allergic reactions are mediated by immunoglobulin E (IgE) and occur in individuals who are genetically predisposed to the allergy and who have been previously exposed to the allergen. Food allergies have become an important health concern worldwide. The symptoms of food allergy include respiratory, gastrointestinal and cardiovascular symptoms and a rare life threatening symptom includes anaphylactic shock. The substance that causes an allergic reaction is called an allergen. More than 160 foods are identified as allergenic. Approximately 90 percent of all the allergenic reactions to food are caused by eight major foods namely milk, eggs, fish, crustacean, shellfish, tree nuts, peanuts, wheat, and soybeans.10 Currently there is no cure for food allergy. Therefore, proper management is very much important to reduce the risk of food allergy. Several research efforts are ongoing to develop anti-allergenic as well as hypoallergenic foods by using various processing technologies to eliminate the causative factor. Hence, understanding the recent status of food allergy and advanced processing technologies are required for reducing allergenicity of foods.

Keywords: Food allergy; Allergen; Anaphylactic shock; Anti allergenic food; Hypoallergenic food.