A Comparative Analysis on the Performance of Two Commercial Egg ELISA Methods on Detecting and Quantifying Whole Egg Powder from a Spiked Matrix

Egg, one of 9 major allergens, is a prevalent public health concern. The objective of this research was to contribute to the general knowledge of egg allergen detection and quantification by comparing two commercial egg ELISA assays from R-Biopharm, RIDASCREEN FAST Egg Protein (Product Code, R6402) and RIDASCREEN Egg (Product Code, R6411). The recovery of protein from whole egg powder (WEP) spiked into a buffer, raw cookie dough, and baked sugar cookie was evaluated using the R6402 and R6411 ELISA methods. WEP was spiked into all three matrices at concentrations of 5, 10, and 50 ppm WEP. Samples were extracted using the extraction method outlined in the R6402 kit and the two different extraction protocols outlined in the R6411 kit. Both the R6402 and R6411 methods reliably quantified 5, 10, and 50 ppm WEP in buffer, raw dough, and baked cookie matrices, with higher percentage recoveries observed with the R6411 method, compared to the R6402 method.