Determining the effect of UV-C, high intensity ultrasound and nonthermal atmospheric plasma treatments on reducing the allergenicity of α-casein and whey proteins

•Ultrasound, nonthermal plasma and UV-C were tested to reduce allergenicity of milk proteins.•UV-C treatment for 15 min resulted in reduced allergenicity of milk proteins.•Allergenicity of α-casein and whey proteins reduced by 25% and 27.7% respectively.•Ultrasound and nonthermal plasma did not reduce allergenicity of milk proteins.

Casein, β-lactoglobulin and α-lactalbumin are major milk protein allergens. The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of high intensity ultrasound, nonthermal atmospheric plasma and UV-C light treatments in reducing the allergenicity of isolated major milk proteins. SDS-PAGE results for ultrasound and plasma treatments showed no noticeable change in gel band intensities for α-casein, β-lactoglobulin and α-lactalbumin, indicating no change in protein concentration. Ci-ELISA analysis showed that there was no significant difference (p > 0.05) in IgE binding values for control and treated samples in ultrasound and plasma treatment conditions tested in this study. UV-C treatment for 15 min resulted in reduced intensities of all three protein bands in SDS-PAGE gel. Ci-ELISA of UV-C treated samples showed, significant reduction (p < 0.05) in IgE binding values compared to control samples indicating reduction in allergenicity of proteins (25% reduction for α-casein and 27.7% reduction for whey fractions). Further investigations using in vivo clinical trials need to be conducted to confirm this result.