Allergens ERP Book, Sept 17

AOAC SPSFAM ERP REVIEW: MAIN FORM

Submission Date

2017-09-24 10:41:49

Name

Linda Monaci

E-mail

linda.monaci@ispa.cnr.it

Organization

ISPA-CNR

Title of Method

Detection and quantification of selected food allergens using LC-MS/MS

AOAC Candidate Method Number (e.g. ALN-01)

ALL-01

Applicable SMPR

2016.002

I. Summary of the Method

The authors have significantly improved the work and addressed the major questions and criticisms raised by the reviewers in the previous evaluation. The method described reports the single lab validation study based on a LC-MS/MS method for the quantification of 4 allergens milk (CN), egg (white and yolk), hazelnut, peanut in different matrices encompassing liquid (salad dressing, wine) and solid matrices (cookies, bread). Incurred and spiked foods were produced according to what requested by the reviewers for the construction of matrx-matched calibration curves. The validation study was performed on a low resolution triple quadrupole instrument, specifically a QTrap 6500, by monitoring one specific and unique peptide for each allergenic ingredient (2 MRM transitions each; one quantifier and one qualifier). The authors also performed on the candidate marker peptides a Blast search and excluded those that showed a certain degree of homology with other proteins. The analytical range of linearity spanned from 10 to 1000 ppm (spiked samples), the repeatability less than 20% (RSDr) and the recovery ranged from 60 to 118% (except for egg yolk in salad dressing, milk in dark chocolate, hazelnut in ice cream, milk chocolate and breakfast cereal, peanut in milk chocolate that gave lower recoveries. The preparation of spiked or incurred foods was better detailed in this last version and also the estimation of MDL and MQL was better described. The method meets for most food matrices/allergens the SMPR with some exceptions. According to the guidelines, the method meets the SMPR for all the 4 allergens in selected food matrices. It does not apply to all food matrices mentioned but as stated by the authors some exceptions that do not meet the SMPR are: egg yolk in salad dressing, milk in dark chocolate, hazelnut in ice cream, milk chocolate and breakfast cereal, peanut in milk chocolate were lower were recovery were obtained (ranging from 17 to 44%). The method has not been extended to other food allergens although some preliminary investigations were performed. More work is required in this direction and to include the quantification of hazelnut and peanuts in milk chocolate, dark chocolate and ice-ream or egg yolk in salad dressing.

II. Review of the Method Only 1. Does the applicability of the method support the applicability of the SMPR? If not, please explain what is missing.

2. Does the analytical technique(s) used in the method meet the SMPR? If not, please specify how it differs from what is stated in the SMPR. 3. Are the definitions specified in the SMPR used and applied appropriately in the method? If no, please indicate how the terms are used.

Yes

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