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ARS Home » Pacific West Area » Albany, California » Western Regional Research Center » Produce Safety and Microbiology Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #378508
Research Project: Ecology and Detection of Human Pathogens in the Produce Production Continuum

Location: Produce Safety and Microbiology Research

Title: A rapid and sensitive lateral flow immunoassay (LFIA) for the detection of gluten in foods

Author
item Hnasko, Robert
item Jackson, Eric
item Lin, Alice
item Haff, Ronald - Ron
item McGarvey, Jeffery - Jeff

Submitted to: Journal of Food Chemistry
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 2/28/2021
Publication Date: 3/29/2021
Citation: Hnasko, R.M., Jackson, E.S., Lin, A.V., Haff, R.P., McGarvey, J.A. 2021. A rapid and sensitive lateral flow immunoassay (LFIA) for the detection of gluten in foods. Journal of Food Chemistry. 355. Article 129514. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodchem.2021.129514.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodchem.2021.129514

Interpretive Summary: Gluten is a food allergen. We have developed an improved method for the detection of gluten in foods that use inexpensive disposable test strips. These gluten test strips rapidly detect gluten from foods at a concentration below that required for gluten-free food labeling. This gluten test is sensitive, fast and can detect glutens from wheat, rye, barley and oats. To improve testing performance we engineered a disposable plastic biosensor for test strips that is small, traceable and easy-to-use as a solution for the rapid (< 3 min) detection of gluten in foods.

Technical Abstract: The gluten protein found in a variety of cereal grains is a food allergen that can elicit a spectrum of immuno-inflammatory responses in people. Consumer awareness has prompted changes in food labeling requirements, expanded gluten-free food product availability and increased demand for effective gluten testing methodologies. To meet the challenges associated with gluten testing from diverse and complex foods we developed a lateral flow immunoassay (LFIA) using a pair of novel alpha-gliadin monoclonal antibodies (MAbs). Using a visual gold reporter, we show sensitive gluten detection (150 ppb) from complex food substrates using a fast (< 5 min) and easy testing methodology. In this report we characterize the binding properties of a cohort of newly generated alpha-gliadin monoclonal antibodies suitable for gluten detection using multiple assay formats and introduce a disposable plug-n-play test strip platform to simplify gluten food testing.