Recent advances in inhalant food allergens linked to occupational respiratory allergy and asthma were discussed by the researchers in the review article. According to the findings of the analysis, occupational inhalant allergy in food handling jobs was a prevalent and distinguishable clinical entity (class 3 food allergy) in high-risk food occupations such as bakeries and seafood processing. Occupational sensitization, rhinitis, and asthma were caused by aerosolized food proteins from plant or animal food sources, additives, and biological food contaminants. Food processing processes, particularly the introduction of novel food allergens into the food matrix, might increase the risk of allergy across the food value chain. Improved health-based exposure regulations, workplace control measures, education and training initiatives, and early diagnosis combined with exposure reduction could all help to avoid occupational food allergy and asthma.
Future research should focus on exposure-response studies to establish improved exposure limits, particularly for flour dust, the importance of cooked vs raw foods in influencing risk, identifying and characterizing major inhalant food allergens with component-resolved diagnostic approaches, and evaluating the effectiveness of interventions for common high-risk food sensitizers that cause occupational rhinitis and asthma.
