Neogen has expanded its suite of tests for detecting food allergens, which now includes checks for the presence of coconut in food and beverages.

Called Reveal 3-D for Coconut Allergen, the test can screen samples at 1 part per million (ppm) in five minutes.

Its new Veratox for Coconut Allergen offers accurate results in the range of 1 to 25 ppm after testing food and beverage samples.

Neogen president and chief executive officer John Adent said: “The addition of our tests for coconut adds to Neogen’s leadership role in providing food allergen testing solutions.

“Ever since we developed the first commercially available rapid test for a food allergen, now 20 years ago, we have provided our testing customers with their best options to protect their food allergic consumers.

“These new tests will enable our customers to use the same easy-to-use testing methodology to test for the allergens of most concern to the food industry.”

Neogen offers allergen test kits for foods identified by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as being of major concern.

These include tests to detect nuts such as almonds, hazelnuts, pecans, walnuts, cashews and pistachios, as well as eggs, wheat/gluten, milk, peanuts, soy, and crustacea such as crab, lobster and shrimp.

Reveal 3-D’s format comes with three test lines, including an overload detection system intended to ensure positive samples are accurately reported.

It screens at 1 ppm of coconut protein in environmental samples, clean-in-place (CIP) rinses, ultra-high temperature (UHT) processed beverages and several other beverages such as sports drinks, milk and enhancers.

The Veratox test is a sandwich enzyme-linked immunoassay (S-ELISA) that requires minimal training and standard laboratory equipment. Following extraction, it generates quantitative results in 30 minutes.

The test offers a way of finding out if an ingredient or product has been subject to cross-contact with coconut.