Detection of hen's egg white lysozyme in food: Comparison between a sensitive HPLC and a commercial ELISA method

AGRO 50

Barbara Kerkaert, barbara.kerkaert@ugent.be and Bruno De Meulenaer, Bruno.Demeulenaer@UGent.be. Department of Food Safety and Food Quality, Ghent University, Coupure Links 653, 9000 Ghent, Belgium
Hen's egg white lysozyme shows lytic activity on the cell wall of several bacteria and is as such an effective preservative in foods. Thus, this natural antimicrobial enzyme is used as an alternative to nitrates, to prevent late blowing of semi-hard and hard cheeses by inhibiting growth of Clostridium tyrobutyricum. In the last decade more and more case-studies revealed severe allergic reactions to lysozyme containing foods in egg allergic persons. Because of this and because of recently changed EC legislation, the use of lysozyme as an additive has to be declared on the ingredient label.

In order to control the use of lysozyme there is an urgent need for good detection and quantification methods. In this study an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was compared with a chromatographic method for the quantification of HEW lysozyme in cheese and cooked meals. Preliminary results show that ELISA is an appropriate screening technique in cheese. For the analysis of more complex samples and for more reliable quantified data, the instrumental method is however recommended.

 

New Developments and Issues in Agrochemical Sciences
8:00 AM-11:00 AM, Monday, August 20, 2007 BCEC -- Exhibit Hall - B2, Poster

Sci-Mix
8:00 PM-10:00 PM, Monday, August 20, 2007 BCEC -- Exhibit Hall - B2, Sci-Mix

Division of Agrochemicals

The 234th ACS National Meeting, Boston, MA, August 19-23, 2007