Immunoreactivity of selected wines commercially available in Poland

Abstract

Taking into consideration the allergic consumers safety, the European Union imposed the duty of labelling allergenic substances used in the wine production on the wine producers. Although the rule entered into force in the course of the last three years, not properly labelled alcoholic beverages are still available on the Polish market. 25% of the beverage samples tested without the casein declaration on the label did not contain any traces of this protein. The rest of them were found to contain casein while three contained such an amount of casein which could be considered risky for hypersensitive individuals. The results were obtained with a commercial ELISA kit. The samples were also tested using slot-blot technique, which was recognised less sensitive than ELISA and therefore also less reliable. Due to the fact that the tested beverages were not properly labelled, hypersensitive people still should not buy them unless they contain clear information: "the product does not contain casein". Simultaneously, manufacturers are required to withdraw them from the market.