Table of Contents

f284 Turkey meat Scientific Information Summary Allergen Epidemiology Clinical Relevance Molecular Aspects Compiled By

Whole Allergen

f284 Turkey meat

f284 Turkey meat Scientific Information

Type:

Whole Allergen

Display Name:

Turkey meat

Route of Exposure:

Ingestion

Family:

Phasianidae

Species:

Meleagris gallopavo

Latin Name:

Meleagris gallopavo

Other Names:

Wild Turkey,

Summary

Turkey meat is the second most consumed poultry meat worldwide and allergy to turkey meat is less common than chicken allergy. Turkey meat allergy can present as a primary food allergy or as secondary food allergy resulting from cross-reactivity. Turkey allergy is limited to individual case reports, with symptoms linked to oral allergy syndrome, gastrointestinal symptoms, urticaria and angioedema. Secondary allergy may arise due to sensitization to inhalant exposure to bird antigens or egg yolk.

Allergen

Nature

Poultry meat consumption is increasing globally and turkey meat is now the second most consumed poultry meat worldwide, with an average annual consumption of 4.0 and 7.3 kg per capita in the European Union and the United States, respectively. Western country consumers prefer the breast meat, mainly because of its perceived healthy profile (1).

Taxonomy

Taxonomic tree of Turkey Meat (2)
Domain	Eukaryota
Kingdom	Animalia
Phylum	Chordata
Subphylum	Vertebrata
Class	Aves
Family	Phasianidae
Genus	Meleagris Linnaeus

Taxonomic tree of Turkey Meat (2)

Epidemiology

Worldwide distribution

Overall, allergy to poultry meat , and particularly to turkey meat, is rare. To put this into context, a seminal paper describing the double-blind, placebo-controlled food challenge procedure highlighted data from one medical center, where of 407 patients undergoing food challenge, 1 of these had a positive result to turkey (4).

Clinical Relevance

Allergy to poultry meat can affect both children and adults and may present as primary food allergy (e.g., main sensitization to poultry from heat-resistant allergens) or as secondary food allergy resulting from cross-reactivity, such as bird-egg syndrome, where the patient is sensitized to serum albumins via respiratory exposure to birds or from egg yolk (e.g. Gal d 5). Symptoms of allergy from turkey meat ingestion are usually rare and mild, and severe anaphylaxis with cardiovascular symptoms are seldom seen. Primary poultry meat allergy is mainly seen in adolescents and young adults, symptoms include oral allergy syndrome, gastrointestinal symptoms, urticaria and angioedema. (3).

Published data on turkey meat allergy is limited to single case reports (3-5).

Molecular Aspects

Allergenic molecules

Table adapted from Allergome.org (6).

Allergen	Source
Mel g 1 trypsin inhibitor	Animals, Birds, Common Turkey, Meleagris gallopavo, Phasianidae
Mel g 2 albumin	Animals, Birds, Common Turkey, Meleagris gallopavo, Phasianidae
Mel g 3 transferrin	Animals, Birds, Common Turkey, Meleagris gallopavo, Phasianidae
Mel g 4 glycosyl hydrolase	Animals, Birds, Common Turkey, Meleagris gallopavo, Phasianidae
Mel g 5 albumin	Animals, Birds, Common Turkey, Meleagris gallopavo, Phasianidae
Mel g PRVB calcium binding	Animals, Birds, Common Turkey, Meleagris gallopavo, Phasianidae

Allergen	Source

Cross-reactivity

Immunoblot studies suggest that IgE antibodies from poultry-allergic subjects mainly bind with proteins between 5 and 25 kDa, which show cross-reactivity to alpha-parvalbumins from turkey, chicken cow, horse, and frog (3).

In secondary poultry meat allergy, serum albumins from egg are likely to be the causal sensitization in bird-egg syndrome. While cross-sensitization to poultry meat is common in patients with bird-egg syndrome, clinical reactions after meat ingestion appear to be rare because of the heat-lability of serum albumins (3).

Despite very limited reports, patients with poultry meat allergy can also have concomitant allergy to fish and possibly shrimp. Specific IgE against fish and shrimp is found in 60% and 40% of sera, respectively, suggestive of cross-reaction in these foods (3).

Compiled By

Author: RubyDuke Communications

Reviewer: Dr. Michael Thorpe

Last reviewed:January 2022

References

Zampiga M, Soglia F, Baldi G, Petracci M, Strasburg GM, Sirri F. Muscle Abnormalities and Meat Quality Consequences in Modern Turkey Hybrids. Frontiers in Physiology. 2020;11(554).
ITIS. Meleagris gallopavo Linnaeus, 1758 (Turkey) 2021 [cited 2021 18.11.21]. Available from: https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=176136#null.
Hemmer W, Klug C, Swoboda I. Update on the bird-egg syndrome and genuine poultry meat allergy. Allergo J Int. 2016;25:68-75.
Cahen YD, Fritsch R, Wüthrich B. Food allergy with monovalent sensitivity to poultry meat. Clin Exp Allergy. 1998;28(8):1026-30.
Sokolova A, Costa AC, Santos MC, Bartolomé B, Barbosa MP. Severe allergy to poultry meat without sensitisation to egg proteins with concomitant Leguminosae allergy. Case report. Allergol Immunopathol (Madr). 2009;37(3):168-71.
Allergome. Turkey 2021 [cited 2021 18.11.21]. Available from: https://www.allergome.org/script/search_step2.php.