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

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 <i>via</i> 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.