Development of a barcode-style lateral flow immunoassay for the rapid semi-quantification of gliadin in foods

Abstract

In this work, a barcode-style lateral flow immunoassay is developed using two cut-off values (10 and 50mgkg−1 gliadin) to provide a semi-quantification for identifying “gluten-free” and “very low gluten” foods, based on the international Codex Alimentarius Standard. This developed assay exhibits favorable specificity in differentiating wheat from seven commonly used grains, with only a slight cross-reaction with barely. The intra-assay and inter-assay CV values of this assay were 1.5–1.7% and 2.5–4.5%, respectively, revealing high reproducibility. In the analysis of 48 food samples, the results of this assay closely agreed with those obtained using AOAC-approved ELISA or strip kits, as the Cohen’s kappa coefficients for both comparisons exceeded 0.8. Thus, this developed assay can be used to quickly estimate the gliadin content in foods in order to protect people with wheat allergy or celiac disease from the accidental ingestion of gliadin.