Enzyme-linked Immunosorbent Assay for the Detection of Hen's Egg Proteins in Processed Foods

The Hen’s egg is widely used in many processed foods as an ingredient and is one of the most prevalent food allergens in children. To detect egg proteins in processed foods, we developed a competitive indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ciELISA) using an anti-ovomucoid (OM) antibody, which was produced by immunization of rabbits with OM, the most heat-stable component of the egg proteins. The detection limit of this quantitative assay system was 30 ng/mL. Crossreactivity of the anti-OM antibody toward OM, ovalbumin, skim milk, casein, whey protein isolate, and isolated soy protein was 100, 0.4, 0.2, 0.04, 0, and 0%, respectively. In the spike test of egg white powder in milk replacer, commercial sausage, and in-house sausage, the assay recoveries (mean±SD) were 129±13.7%, 73.9±12.5%, and 65.5±13.6%, respectively. When egg white in a commercial crab meat analog and sausage was determined by ciELISA, the assay recovery was found to be 108% and 127%, respectively. The combined results of this study indicate that this novel ciELISA for OM detection could be applied for the quantification of hen’s egg proteins in processed foods.