TEPNEL

BioKits Food Testing Kits

The BioKits range of testing kits is designed to detect and quantitate allergens, additives, contaminants, and toxins in food. There are four distinct sets of kits for:

BioKits Speciation Kits

For the qualitative detection of animal and fish (DNA only) species content (Cooked) Species Identification (<1% limit of detection) For the determination of species content in cooked/canned meats/meat products, blood and rendered material of animal origin e.g. in animal feeds by ELISA (Raw) Species Identification (<1% limit of detection) For the determination of species content in raw meats/meat products, milk and animal plasma by ELISA. Two formats are available, BioKits 96-well kits for laboratory use and F.A.S.T. tests for "on-site" testing of one-off or smaller numbers of samples. DNA-based Species Identification (<0.1% limit of detection) For the determination of animal and fish species content in raw, cooked and processed materials and animal feeds using PCR techniques.

Species Available

96 = 96 well ELISA format
F.A.S.T. = Immunostick format
DNA = PCR-based testing

Allergen overview

The use of protein additives such as gluten, peanut and milk proteins is widespread since they add to the functionality, texture and taste of many foods. However, for an increasing number of people (perhaps 6-8% of children and 2% of adults), these and other proteins can cause serious problems of intolerance and allergenicity. Addition of these ingredients to foods either accidentally or without adequate labelling can only be controlled if effective methods of detection are employed by food manufacturers and regulatory laboratories.

The major food-related allergens are:

The BioKits range of test kits facilitates the detection of an increasing number of these allergens in foods, using laboratory ELISA or PCR techniques or 'on-site' Rapid Tests that employ lateral flow methods.

Adulteration
BioKits also offer the PQC kit which is a sensitive and specific semi-quantitative test for the detection of common wheat adulteration in a range of pasta and noodle products including those containing egg and spinach.

BioKits Mycotoxin Testing Kits

Ochratoxin A
The Ochratoxins are a group of carcinogenic fungal metabolites produced by both Aspergillus and Penicillium species, most importantly during the spoilage of commodities destined for the production of human or animal foodstuffs.

Ochratoxin-A (OA) has been found in cereals, dried fruits, coffee and alcoholic beverages. Legislation to control ochratoxin levels exists in the EU and several other countries. The BioKits OA Assay kit is a simple, indirect ELISA, highly specific and sensitive (<1ppb) for OA, which enables the quantitative analysis of OA between 1-20 p.p.b. in a range of foodstuffs.

Other Mycotoxins
Tepnel BioSystems distributes the Vicam range of immunoaffinity columns in the UK and Eire for all the main mycotoxins such as:

Testing of Genetically Modified (GM) Foods

The introduction of genetically modified crops into the food chain has led to a requirement for the testing of a broad range of food and feed products in order to meet the EU labelling requirement for Novel Foods. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) methodologies are commonly used to establish the presence or absence of DNA sequences found in Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs). This technique has been found to be applicable to both raw and processed food and feedstuffs.

The BioKits GMO Selection Module PCR mastermixes are designed for qualitative screening of raw and processed food and feedstuffs for the presence of DNA sequences specific to Roundup Ready Soya and Bt-176 Maize, as well as for the detection of common sequences such as CaMV 35S promoter, BAR gene and the NOS terminator.
Limit of detection for all the GMO mastermixes is 0.1% in an unprocessed flour matrix.

GM Maize Selection Module

The GM Maize Selection Module offers the capability to detect a further four GM Maize varieties. These include Bt-11, MON810 (Yieldgard™) and LibertyLink™ (T25) (all EU approved) as well as the non-approved Starlink™ variety.
DNA Extraction Kit

The BioKits DNA Extraction Kit (GM Foods) is specifically designed to extract "pure & clean" DNA from a wide variety of food samples.

Website: www.tepnel.com