Development and validation of sensitive and rapid immunoassays to detect minute amounts of hazelnut in processed food and working surfaces

Civera, Alba (Universidad de Zaragoza) ; Galan-Malo, Patricia (Universidad de Zaragoza) ; Mata, Luis ; Tobajas, Ana P. (Universidad de Zaragoza) ; Sánchez, Lourdes (Universidad de Zaragoza) ; Pérez, María D. (Universidad de Zaragoza)

Resumen: Hazelnut (Corylus avellana L.) represents one of the most allergenic nuts and it can be found as a hidden allergen in processed food due to cross contamination. Therefore, sensitive and specific analytical techniques are in high demand to be used in allergen risk management plans at food industry. In this study, sandwich ELISA and Lateral Flow Immunoassay (LFIA) to detect hazelnut have been developed based on the determination of Cor a 9, one of the most abundant and allergenic proteins of hazelnut. Results showed that cross-reactivity was only found with walnut and Pecan nut, which was lower than 0.1%. When analyzing food spiked with a hazelnut extract or blended with hazelnut flour, ELISA and LFIA were able to detect 0.1 ppm and 0.5 ppm of hazelnut protein with a recovery from 82 to 110%. ELISA and LFIA could also detect 0.15 and 0.6 ppm of hazelnut protein in baked cookies incurred with ground hazelnut, respectively. Furthermore, LFIA could detect 1.25 μg of hazelnut protein in working surfaces of stainless steel and melamine. The sandwich ELISA was in-house validated, showing acceptable results of precision. Likewise, ELISA and LFIA showed to be robust tests. The combined use of both assays could improve the allergen risk management plans in food industry to monitor the presence of hazelnut traces in raw ingredients, processed food and working surfaces.

Idioma: Inglés

DOI: 10.1016/j.foodcont.2023.109868

Año: 2023

Publicado en: Food Control 152 (2023), 109868 [9 pp.]
ISSN: 0956-7135

Financiación: info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/ES/DGA-FEDER/A02-20R

Tipo y forma: Artículo (Versión definitiva)

Área (Departamento): Área Bioquímica y Biolog.Mole. (Dpto. Bioq.Biolog.Mol. Celular)
Área (Departamento): Área Tecnología de Alimentos (Dpto. Produc.Animal Cienc.Ali.)