Peanut Lateral Flow Allergen Test Kit (bioavid Diagnostics/r-biopharm)

• Sensitive to 1 ppm
• Results in under 10 minutes (environmental swab method) or under 20 minutes (product sample)
• Store at room temperature – no refrigeration required
• Swab kits are available separately – only buy what you need
• Positive control is included

Application

The FDA reports that eight foods account for 90% of allergic reactions, including peanuts as well as milk, eggs, fish, crustacean shellfish, tree nuts, wheat and soybeans. Since products not specifically formulated with these allergenic ingredients may still contain traces of them as a result of cross-contamination during processing—e.g., as a result of incomplete cleaning during changeover of equipment—food and beverage manufacturers and ingredient suppliers must test for the presence of these allergens in their products.
These immunological rapid test kits are able to detect a target allergen on environmental surfaces, solid foods and clean-in-place rinse water.
It is used for the qualitative detection of peanut residues in environmental sample or solid samples after a short preparation procedure.

Contents

Reaction Vials – containing labeled antibodies in stabilized dried form.
Allergen Test Strips – for the detection of antigen-antibody complexes.
Dropper Bottle with Running Buffer (10 mL). Positive Control (reconstitute 5 mL with 1 mL water; use 0.1 mL per test).
Not included: dropper pipets or micro-pipettors (0.1 – 0.2 mL). Sodium Chloride (NaCl) for solid sample preparation.

Storage

Store the test kit at room temperature (2 – 25°C).

Procedure

Environmental Swab Samples

Swab the area of interest using components of the Swabbing Kit (available separately – kit contains all materials for 25 tests). Release the sample thoroughly from the swab into 1 mL PBS-Tween. Add 0.2 mL into the assay (see below).
CIP water: Add 0.2 mL directly into the assay (see below).

Peanut Product Sample Preparation

Add 450 mL water and 4 g salt (NaCl) to 50 g sample and homogenize for 5 minutes in a mixer (equivalent volumes can be applied, e.g. 5 g sample in 45 mL water and 0.4 g salt). Filter the homogenate using a coarse paper filter or a syringe filled with glass wool until 0.1 mL filtrate is available, at least. Alternatively centrifuge at ca 2000 x g for 5 minutes. Proceed to assay.

Assay

Add 7 drops or 0.2 mL of Running Buffer into the Reaction Vial.
Add 2 drops or 0.1 mL of an extracted sample or CIP water into the Reaction Vial.
Mix the content by carefully tapping the vial on the desk a few times.
Incubate for 5 minutes.
Insert an Allergen Test Strip into the Reaction Vial (close the strip container again).
Read the result at 5 minutes.

Interpretation of the result

One or 2 purple lines should appear in the reaction field on the strip. The upper line is the control line (see C). It indicates that the test has been performed correctly. The lower band is the test line (T). It indicates the presence of the target residue in the sample.
One line is read as a valid negative result
Two lines are read as a valid positive result
Note: The photograph shows three Allergen Test Strips. The left one shows a negative result and the other two are positive (line at T).

Limitation

The test format is able to detect residues of peanut residue down to 1 ppm. Only presence or absence of an analyte can be determined, but no quantitative result can be given. Very high concentrations of milk in a sample (> 1000 ppm) may reduce the intensity of the test line, or suppress its formation completely. If a sample is supposed to contain such high concentrations of an analyte, higher dilution of the sample is recommended.