Allergenicity of Fish Meat Paste Products and Surimi from Walleye Pollack

Six kinds of fish meat paste products (kamaboko, tubular kamaboko called chikuwa, boiled kamaboko called hampen, square shaped fried kamaboko called satsuma-age, fish ball called tsumire and fish sausage) and surimi from walleye pollack were evaluated for allergenicity by ELISA using sera from two fish-sensitive patients, patient 1 recognizing parvalbumin as an allergen and patient 2 recognizing a higher-molecular-weight substance (referred to as unidentified allergen). Patient 1 serum was positive only to the extract from fish ball, which contained a large amount of unwashed sardine meat. Furthermore, parvalbumin was detected only in fish ball by both ELISA using a monoclonal antibody against carp parvalbumin and SDS-PAGE. These results suggested that fish meat paste products made of surimi from walleye pollack and/or fully washed fish meat can be served as hypoallergenic foods to fish-sensitive patients recognizing parvalbumin, since parvalbumin in fish meat can be mostly removed by washing. On the other hand, patient 2 serum reacted to all the extracts from fish meat paste products and surimi. When myofibrillar protein and myostromal protein franctions prepared from surimi were subjected to ELISA with patient 2 serum, the unidentified allergen was found in the latter fraction. SDS-PAGE, immuno-blot and amino acid analysis demonstrated that the unidentified allergen in the myostromal protein fraction is collagen.