LC/MS/MS for the Detection of Food Allergen: Application to the Detection of Milk Allergens

Philippe Raymond*¹, Dorcas Weber², Sylvianne Paul¹, Daniel Langlois³, Samuel Ben-Rejeb², Ben Lau².

1 Canadian Food Inspection Agency, Laboratoire de St-Hyacinthe, St-Hyacinthe, Quebec, J2S 8E3
2 Health Canada, Sir Frederick Banting Research Centre, Ottawa, Ontario, K1A 0L2
3 Canadian Food Inspection Agency, Laboratoire de Longueuil, Longueuil, Quebec, J4K 1C7

Confirmatory tests are needed to corroborate or investigate allergen ELISA detection results. We have developed and evaluated a confirmatory assay using a LC/MS/MS for the detection of both casein and ß-lactoglobulin in various matrices.

Results from the LC/MS/MS were highly reproducible with a LOD of 5ppm. The method was tested on a wide variety of sample matrices. Compared to the casein ELISA the relative sensitivity was 100% with only one false positive (n=32) which later was confirmed to contain ß-lactoglobulin. The LC/MS/MS was a valuable confirmatory method for simultaneous detection of several milk allergens that performed better than PCR and Western blot. Moreover, allergens from other sources (i.e. goat casein, fish, wheat, soy) were detected at the same time illustrating the other potential applications.