Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) using a specific monoclonal antibody as a new tool to detect Sudan dyes and...

To set up an immunoassay-based method to detect Sudan dyes and Para red, we generated a monoclonal antibody (Mab) using a specially designed carboxyl derivative of Sudan I (CSD I) as the immunogen. CSD I was synthesized by azocoupling reaction using 2-naphthol and diazotised 4-aminobenzoic acid. The antibody was obtained from a hybridoma, which was derived from the fusion of the mouse myeloma SP2/0 cells and the splenocytes from the mice immunized with the CSD I-bovine serum albumin (BSA) conjugate. In addition, we showed that the Mab was highly specific for Sudan I, III and Para red. The limit of detection was approximately 0.01ngmL(-1) in phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) buffer and 0.5ngg(-1) in chilli tomato sauce. The recoveries of Sudan I, III and Para red for the chilli tomato sauce were from 84% to 99% and coefficients of variation were from 14.9% to 33.3%. Thus, the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) method is a rapid and high throughput screening tool to detect Sudan dyes and Para red in food products.