Colloidal gold immunochromatographic assay for on-site butylated hydroxyanisole detection in vegetable oil

Abstract

The contamination of butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA) presents a notable threat to food safety. However, prevalent issues among existing detection methods include intricate operation procedures and elevated detection costs. Therefore, in this study, we fabricated a monoclonal antibody (mAb) targeting BHA and developed a colloidal gold immunochromatographic assay (CGIA) strip for the rapid determination of BHA residues in edible oils. Antigens BHA–hapten–KLH and BHA–hapten–OVA were synthesized via ultraviolet spectrophotometry, and their immunological properties were comprehensively characterized. Through the optimization of the pH conditions for colloidal gold-labeled anti-BHA mAbs, the composition of the reconstitution solution, and the sample pretreatment protocol, the limit of detection of the established CGIA method for vegetable oil samples reached 0.06 mg kg⁻¹. During the spiked recovery experiments, the CGIA exhibited a recovery rate ranging from 99.4% to 105.0%. The detection results were in high agreement with those obtained by HPLC-MS, thereby validating the accuracy and reliability of the method. In summary, this CGIA strip offers a straightforward, sensitive, and field-applicable analytical tool for the rapid detection of BHA in vegetable oil, holding great promise for application in the realm of on-site food safety monitoring.