A sandwich ELISA for the detection of mollusks and mollusk products

Mollusks are a major allergenic food under the food allergen regulations of many countries and must be declared on food products to reduce the risk of allergic reactions. However, a reliable immunoassay for detecting edible mollusks (cephalopods, gastropods, and bivalves) has not been reported. In this study, the developed sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (sELISA) detected 32 edible mollusk species in raw and heated without cross-reaction with non-mollusk species. The detection limits of the assay were 0.1 ppm for heated mollusks and 0.1-0.5 ppm for raw mollusks, depending on the mollusk species tested. The inter-assay and intra-assay co-efficients of variation (CVs) were & LE;14.83 and & LE;8.11, respectively. The assay detected steamed, boiled, baked, fried, and autoclaved mollusk samples and all commercial mollusk products tested. In this study, we developed a mollusk-specific sELISA to protect people allergic to mollusks.

Automated summary

Mollusks, a major allergenic food, must be declared on food products to reduce the risk of allergies. However, there is currently no reliable immunoassay for detecting edible mollusks. In this study, a sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (sELISA) was developed to detect 32 edible mollusk species without cross-reaction with non-mollusk species. The assay proved effective in detecting various cooked and raw mollusk samples, as well as commercial mollusk products.