title: [Evaluation of immunochromatographic test kits for food allergens using processed food models].
abstract: It has been mandatory to label five allergenic substances (AS; egg, milk, wheat, buckwheat and peanut) in all processed foods, since April 2002 in Japan. Two kinds of ELISA kits have been provided as screening test kits for the Japanese official method. The kits have many advantages but some disadvantages, i.e., the kits are not necessarily suitable for daily monitoring in food manufacturing plants, because they require various analytical equipments and the use of complicated procedures. To overcome these drawbacks, we have developed other diagnostic kits based on immunochromatography that should enable more rapid and simple screening for food allergens. Then we examined the performance of these immunochromatographic test kits (IC kits) in terms of sensitivity, repeatability and cross-reactivity to AS proteins in 11 kinds of food models with various heating conditions and physical properties. We also examined processed food models including AS protein of constant concentration, using the IC kits and ELISA kits, and compared the results. The IC kits detected AS proteins at 5 microg/g in the extracts from processed food models, and provided highly reproducible results. Cross-reactivity among the AS proteins was not observed. The results obtained using the IC kits showed performance equivalent to that of the ELISA kits we examined in unheating processed food models including AS proteins of constant concentration. The IC kits should be more suitable for daily monitoring in food manufacturing plants.
authors.affiliation: Nippon Meat Packers Inc, Ibarak, Japan.
authors.forename: Naoki
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Morishita
authors.forename: Eri
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Akiyama
authors.forename: Natsumi
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Arikawa
authors.forename: Tomomi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Iida
authors.forename: Kanako
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Tase
authors.forename: Mai
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hamaji
authors.forename: Satomi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hiraoka
authors.forename: Rieko
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Shiroyanagi
authors.forename: Shigenori
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kamijou
authors.forename: Takashi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Matsumoto
authors.forename: Yoshihisa
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Takahata
authors.forename: Fumiki
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Morimatsu
authors.forename: Masatake
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Toyoda
mesh_terms: D000485:Allergens / Q000032:analysis*; D002845:Chromatography / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D003429:Cross Reactions; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005504:Food Analysis / Q000379:methods*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity
chemical_list: D000485:Allergens