Detection of allergens using surface-enhanced raman scattering

A method of managing production of a mammalian consumable products comprising:

• extracting samples from multiple different consumable product batches or multiple sources of an ingredient to be incorporated into a consumable product, thereby providing multiple samples;
• combining the multiple samples together to form an aggregate sample;
• adding to the aggregate sample magnetic particles each carrying an antibody configured to bind to an antigen that is a mammalian allergen;
• adding to the aggregate sample particles each having a surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) tag and an antibody configured to bind to the antigen;
• concentrating the antigen in the aggregate sample by applying a magnetic field to the sample, thereby producing a concentrated sample;
• analyzing the concentrated sample with SERS;
• and
• determining a concentration of the mammalian allergen in the aggregate sample based on the SERS analysis performed on the concentrated sample.