A quantitative method for the detection of Egg content in foods
Intended Use:
Although eggs are an extremely nutritious, staple food, containing high amounts of fat and protein, several egg proteins are allergenic. The BIOKITS Egg Assay is a highly sensitive and specific test for the estimation of very low levels of Egg White Protein (EWP) powder or Whole Egg content in raw and cooked foodstuffs (including baked and pasteurised products). Egg white contains approximately 10% protein, of which ~80% is allergenic (principal allergens are Ovalbumin, Ovotransferrin, Ovomucoid and Lysozyme).
Testing for egg content is important as even minute amounts (parts per million; ppm) of these allergenic proteins are capable of inducing reactions ranging from mild skin rashes to anaphylactic shock (which in rare cases can result in death). For products sold in European countries after 25 November 2005, if egg is included as an ingredient, it will be necessary to declare the egg content in line with EC Directive 2003/89. As eggs are widely used in food processing, the potential for cross-contamination is high, making detection extremely important. However, many food processing conditions, e.g. (in particular) heat treatment, as well as acidity, salinity, pressure etc., can reduce immuno-reactivity, but not necessarily allergenicity.
Suitable for testing: low parts per million (ppm) levels of egg content in a wide variety of raw and heat treated foods, and surface swabs using the BIOKITS Allergen Swabbing kit.
The BIOKITS Egg Assay Kit offers:
- High sensitivity LOD <0.1 ppm, Nominal LOQ ~0.5ppm EWP
- High specificity Detects the heat stable protein, Ovomucoid
- Versatility Applicable to raw and cooked foods
- Robustness Excellent reproducibility & repeatability
- Flexibility Choice of quantitative or qualitative analysis
Principle of the Assay:
The kit utilises polyclonal antibodies to Ovomucoid, coated onto micro-wells, in a non-competitive, sandwich type ELISA. Ovomucoid from sample extracts binds to antibody coated on the wells. Biotinylated polyclonal antibodies to Ovomucoid then bind to the captured Egg Protein from the samples, to complete the ‘sandwich’. The presence of the biotinylated anti-ovomucoid is then enhanced using avidin peroxidase (HRP) and the bound peroxidase enzyme activity is determined by reaction with TMB substrate.
The BIOKITS Egg Assay is a highly sensitive and specific quantitative test for egg content in
the presence of other food proteins.
Product Details:
Limits of Quantitation Standards equate to ~0.5-10ppm Egg White Protein (EWP)
Limit of Detection <0.1ppm egg content in food samples (at nominal dilutions)
Samples tested per kit Up to 28 in duplicate (recommended); 56 if tested singly
Hands-on time Preparation/extraction – five samples, <1 hour
Kit Contents 96 microwell plate system with single strips of 8 wells; Spike
Control (derived from NIST SRM8415); Blank Biscuit Crumb;
Pre-prepared Standards; product insert & worksheet
Additional equipment Micro-pipettes (50-100Kl), plate reader with 450nm filter.
Assay Results Calculated using custom-designed Excel spreadsheet
Reagent Stability Several weeks or months after opening
Shelf-life & Storage Up to 12 months from manufacture at 2°C to 8°C
