Helica Biosystems: sensitive, accurate mycotoxins assays

Natural mycotoxins still contaminate the world’s food supply and need sensitive and accurate assays to detect them.

Many rapid assays on the market cannot accurately detect mycotoxins (aflatoxins, ochratoxin A, deoxynivalenol, etc.) in certain commodities due to interference from materials extracted with the toxin.

The most widely used rapid assays employ a conventional ELISA immunoassay format which cannot detect aflatoxin in commercial silage in a simple assay format. However, low-matrix ELISA assays developed by Helica Biosystems, Inc. can do this.

Dr. Peter Knight, Director of Research and Development for Helica Biosystems, points out that interference (matrix) problems can be avoided by manipulating assay design. “A single assay format that we frequently see in many labs does not provide optimum results….one size does not fit all in mycotoxin testing….therefore, we addressed this issue seriously and developed several kits for measuring aflatoxin and ochratoxin A levels in a variety of commodities by applying a proprietary low matrix design”.

Aflatoxin and ochratoxin A can be measured by a simple ELISA assay in products as diverse as silage, spices, coffee, cocoa, wine and beer, even milk and serum. By overcoming the effect of interfering molecules and pigments from extracted commodities, highly specific and accurate results were obtained and confirmed by the gold standard high pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC)

According to a representative from Diagnostic Innovations Limited (Chester, UK): "One of our customers needed to test spice samples on an automated ELISA instrument but was finding them difficult to analyze by ELISA. After converting to the Helica Low-Matrix (LM) Aflatoxin kit they were delighted with the results; in particular one very low positive returned a result of 1.2ppb on Helica-LM, and there were concerns that this may be a "false positive" result. However, when the sample was tested in an independent laboratory using a HPLC method specially validated for the spice matrix, a value of 0.8ppb was obtained by HPLC, showing excellent agreement. This really helped us convert the customer to Helica's ELISA kits."

Similar results were also reported by Duke Thomsons India Pvt. Ltd. (Indore, M.P. India) A company spokesman wrote, “It is my pleasure to inform you of a great breakthrough by implementing Helica Aflatoxin at India's largest producer of chili powder. We are expecting few more to add during this month or early next month. Most of their suppliers to are also queuing for implementation. We hope to multiply requirements with two very good (customer) references….”

A Product Manager for AES Chemunex (Bruz, France) also confirmed the effectiveness of the Helica Low Matrix ELISA: “A customer, a service laboratory, tested the “normal” Aflatoxin kits and had some problems of false positive. So he had high confirmation cost (HPLC by another laboratory). Since, he tested the new Low Matrix kit, he didn’t have any false positive, so he decreased his confirmation cost.”

Estimates indicate about 25% of the world’s food crops are affected by mycotoxins, leading to an incalculable deleterious effect on human health and the productivity of farm animals. It is therefore imperative to obtain highly accurate results which can be achieved by employing tests such as Helica’s sensitive low matrix assays.

These kits can be obtained directly from Helica Biosystems or through one of the company distributors around the world. Technical and commercial information are available by contacting our Customer Service.

By Christine Thornton, Helica Biosystems Inc. Inc.