Application of Foodomics in the Development of an Assay for Food Allergen (Mollusks) On-Site Detection(1/3)

Mollusks is one of major allergenic foods under the food safety regulations in Taiwan and many countries. For reducing the risk of mollusks sensitized consumers, the food safety laws of many countries require that the presence of mollusks must be declared on the ingredients list. Because of late realization of the importance of mollusks allergy, there is no rapid and convenient method available for on-site detection of mollusks. In the previous studies, the development of assays mainly focused on the detection of shellfish. However, the similarity of amino acid sequence is low between mollusks and crustacean. Therefore, most of anti-shellfish antibodies are only able to detect crustacean. In the research project, we proposed a novel strategy to develop an assay for the detection of mollusks. Firstly, we applied the knowledge and techniques of foodomics to study the mollusks muscle proteins from different aspects including proteomics, biology and food chemistry. The mollusks muscle protein which fulfills the criteria will be selected as marker protein. The criteria include thermal-stable, abundant amount, equal distribution and contenting mollusks-specific amino acid sequences. The development of a mollusks-specific lateral-flow assay will be based on the detection of the marker protein. The lateral-flow assay is rapid and requires no professional personnel and no instruments. Hence the assay has been developed, it can be a powerful tool for sensitized consumers performing on-site test and for government agencies and food industrials performing high throughput screening. This mollusks-specific assay is expected to provide significant benefit for food allergen labeling law enforcement and food safety improvement.