Evolution of immunoassays to a reliable screening method
Giulia Rosar from Eurofins Tecna provides a brief overview of the development of rapid screening technologies, explaining how Eurofins got from the first models to solvent-free automated methods and gives tips on how to make the best product choice for different testing needs.
BY GIULIA ROSAR, EUROFINS TECNA E
nzyme-Linked ImmunoSorbent Assays (ELISAs) first became popular in mycotoxin screening in the late 1970s, and for thirty years they have been used wide- ly, particularly among large grain processing plants,
service laboratories and feed producers. The lack of clean-up procedure, ease of use, capacity to process parallel samples, time-to-result and the overall cost balance were incentive enough to compensate for some performance bias, matrix ef- fects and non-selective detection of mycotoxins metabolite. Since the 2000s, several first-level screening rapid methods were released and improved: Lateral Flow ImmunoAssays (LFIAs), also named immunochromatographic assays or immune-gold colloid immunoassays, have been particularly popular the food industry because of the speed and suitability for running onsite, rapid, easy screening on incoming goods. This technology responded well to the introduction of regulatory limits for mycotoxins in foodstuffs, especially for those companies not already equipped with an ELISA laboratory. Over the years, the typical solvent extraction was replaced with methanol-free and ethanol-free aqueous solutions. The time-to-result has been shortened and precision improved. On the other hand, the trend among service laboratories is to shift away from ELISAs and towards instrumental analysis, as
investment has generally decreased in the past years and sample purification has become easier. So, more than 50 years since its debut, what is the current role of ELISAs in mycotoxin analysis and how has this technology evolved? Eurofins Tecna has worked in this field since the early 2000s and now offers more than 20 different mycotoxin screening products. The goal is to tailor different solutions to different needs within the food and feed industries in terms of quality, speed, safety, reproducibility, and price.
Multiple options for different mycotoxin testing needs The most cost-efficient solution available is the B ZERO line, a master-curve calibrated portfolio of kits developed to screen a wide range of mycotoxins. The physical calibration removal is supported by the robustness of the reagents. Within each experiment, it is necessary to run the zero standard and sam- ples, dedicating one well per determination. Analyses be- come significantly cheaper if a few samples are run in the same session, and the cost of calibrators is not amortised. Companies performing several verifications for multiple tox- ins can benefit from shared sample preparation for mycotox- ins in cereals, including DON, and use the same extract for
Table 1 – Overview of different mycotoxin product lines. Product line
Afla Total
BZERO I’screen Celer H2
26 ▶ MYCOTOXINS | NOVEMBER 2021 Afla M1 Afla B1 DON
Mycotoxins FUMO
ZEA OCHRA T2/H2 Single calibration
M1 Milk: AOAC certified ≤ 20min assay time Solvent free
Key benefit
Automation available
PHOTO: GIOVANNI AIELLO
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