Enzymes in breadmaking improvers can cause sensitisation in bakers

References

	Jones M, Welch J, Turvey J, Cannon J, Clark P, Szram J, Cullinan P, Prevalence of sensitization to ‘improver’ enzymes in UK supermarket bakers, Allergy, 2016;71:997-1000,10.1111/all.12854

Comments

The study reports IgE assays of workers from two supermarket scratch bakeries who had work-related upper or lower respiratory symptoms found on surveillances questionnaires. There was positive IgE to flour and/or amylase in 22% of samples from one bakery and 40% from the other. 66% of the samples had positive IgE to other enzymes, but this was rare in workers without positive tests to flour or amylase. Enzymes tested were lipase, maltogenic amylase, cellulose, fungal xylanase, bacterial xylanase, glucose oxidase and bacterial alpha amylase It is unclear whether the enzymes tested were genetically engineered versions in common use or the original native enzymes

7/15/2016