Development of an immunoassay to detect insect contamination of microalgal products |
| |
Authors: | A Belay M McCalmont G B Kitto |
| |
Institution: | (1) Earthrise Farms, P.O. Box 270, Calipatria, California 92233, USA;(2) Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas 78712, USA |
| |
Abstract: | While the insect fragment count is currently the primary test used for assessing insect contamination of food products, this
technique is very problematical for assaying microalgal materials. An account is given of a new immunoassay technique,which
is based on an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay(ELISA) detection of insect myosin and which provides a rapid and convenient
means of quantitatively determining the amount of insect contamination in algal product samples with a high degree of replicability.
Up to 30 samples can be tested in duplicate in 2.5–3 h. Experiments were carried out with a variety of common contaminant
insects of algal products, using various life stages, including Corixidae, Ephydridaeand Chironomidae using both Spirulina
(Arthrospira) and Chlorella as typical algal materials. As little as one insect per 50 g sample can readily be detected, with
excellent correlation (r2 = 0.99) between the number of insects present and the color produced. A matrix analysis to determine the ruggedness of the
immunoassay was carried out following the protocols of the AOAC International and established that minor departures in seven
variables from the standard assay resulted in no substantial differences. The insect myosin assay offers a quantitative and
reliable means for assessing insect contamination of algal materials and should be considered for adoption as a standard method
for this type of product.
This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date. |
| |
Keywords: | algal products insect contamination immunoassay ELISA Spirulina Arthrospira Chlorella |
本文献已被 SpringerLink 等数据库收录! |
|