Immunochemical methods are based on the non-covalent bonding of an antigen by an antibody. The techniques utilizes for analytical purposes the reaction between an antibody or fragment thereof produced in response to a characteristics antigen and the biological material containing the antigen.
Concentration of the antigen-antibody complex is estimated from the secondary reaction that leads to precipitation or agglutination.
The tests are semi-quantitative or quantitative. The introduction of immunochemical methods in food analysis was comparatively slow, but in the course of the last decade the application of immunoassays in this field had increased.
They have been use for low molecular weight analytes like mycotoxins, antibiotics, pesticides, natural toxicants like solanin or proteins like gluten, allergen.
Immunoassays of pesticide and quantitation also for bioavailability and bioactivity of different vitamins also already started to emerge. At present, immunochemical techniques are the preferred method for the determination of allergenic proteins in food.
Immunochemical methods are used for rapid screening of an individual or a group of closely related residues.
Immunochemical techniques
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