Abstract: Food processing and interactions between different food components affect the bioavailability and immunoreactivity of allergens. However, the impacts of food processing and food matrices on protein digestibility and the immunoreactivity of allergens are poorly understood. The digestibility and immunogenicity of wheat and peanut allergens in wheat-based model biscuits were assessed in an in vitro digestion system including simulated mastication and gastroduodenal digestion using sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) and Western blot analysis. Our results demonstrated that peanut and wheat allergens were rapidly digested after exposure to pepsin. The wheat allergens were degraded into low-molecular-mass polypeptides. The peanut allergens Ara h 1 and Ara h 3 almost disappeared, and Ara h 2/6 was resistant to gastrointestinal digestion. The results of enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) showed decreased allergenicity of the allergens after digestion. Taken together, these findings showed that the digestive stability of the model biscuits was not affected by the baking process and other ingredients and the immunoreactivity was reduced due to the digestion of allergens.

Key words: model biscuits, allergens, digestive stability, immunoreactivity