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ARS Home » Northeast Area » Beltsville, Maryland (BARC) » Beltsville Agricultural Research Center » Environmental Microbial & Food Safety Laboratory » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #370564
Research Project: Sensing Technologies for the Detection and Characterization of Microbial, Chemical, and Biological Contaminants in Foods

Location: Environmental Microbial & Food Safety Laboratory

Title: A facile and label-free SERS approach for inspection of fipronil in chicken eggs using SiO2@Au core/shell nanoparticles

Author
item MUHAMMAD, MUHAMMAD - University Of Science And Technology Of China
item YAO, GUOHUA - University Of Science And Technology Of China
item ZHONG, JIE - University Of Science And Technology Of China
item Chao, Kuanglin - Kevin Chao
item AZIZ, MUHAMMAD - University Of Science And Technology Of China
item HUANG, QING - University Of Science And Technology Of China

Submitted to: Talanta
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 12/29/2019
Publication Date: 1/15/2020
Citation: Muhammad, M., Yao, G., Zhong, J., Chao, K., Aziz, M., Huang, Q. 2020. A facile and label-free SERS approach for inspection of fipronil in chicken eggs using SiO2@Au core/shell nanoparticles. Talanta. 207:120324. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.talanta.2019.120324.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.talanta.2019.120324

Interpretive Summary: In 2017, poultry eggs tainted with fipronil, a broad-spectrum insecticide often used to kill lice and fleas, were found in European and Asian markets. Although fipronil is banned for use in food producing animals, in this “poisonous eggs” incident the fipronil concentration reached to as high as 1.2 mg/kg, 240 times higher than the maximum residue levels set by the European Food Safety Authority. To address this public food safety concern, rapid, sensitive methods to inspect eggs for fipronil contamination are required. Traditional laboratory-based analytical techniques such as GC-MS/MS and LC-MS/MS require chemical extraction and a high level instrumental expertise to operate the instruments. Recently, surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) techniques have been widely used for the rapid detection of contaminants/residues in food products. However, methodology using SERS specific to fipronil detection in eggs is needed. This paper proposes a novel approach for rapid detection of fipronil contamination in chicken eggs. SERS material selective for fipronil enabled its detection at concentrations as low as 0.1 ppm on the egg membranes. This study demonstrates the effectiveness of the new sensing method to detect fipronil in eggs, as well as the potential application of this sensing technique to detect pesticides/insecticides in fruits and vegetables which could greatly benefit the food industry and consumers.

Technical Abstract: Fipronil is a phenylpyrazole insecticide commonly used in agriculture and residential applications. In this paper,we reported a novel label-free surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) method for detection of fipronil residues in chicken eggs (mostly accumulated on the egg membrane). We fabricated the SERS substrates composed of the SiO2@Au core/shell nanoparticles and probed the contamination of fipronil residue on the egg membrane. The identification of the characteristic Raman bands of fipronil was achieved with the aid of density functional theory (DFT) alculation, with which we could analyze the trace amount of fipronil in a quantitative way. As such, this work may provide a practical solution to quick inspection of fipronil contamination in chicken eggs or other foods.