ABSTRACT
Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was invented by Eva Engvall during her Ph.D. studies in Stockholm in 1971 (1). A similar assay was produced by Van Weemen and Shuurs (2). Developments between 1971 to 1981 are reviewed in reference 3. ELISA is an example of an enzyme immunoassay (EIA). These are immunological tests ending with enzymatic analysis. Enzyme multiplied immunoassay tests (EMITs) are performed in solution. ELISA employs immunoglobins attached to a solid surface. EIA is further categorized as competitive or noncompetitive (Table 1). Secs 2-5 of this chapter describe authenticity testing for raw and cooked meat by ELISA. The meat antigens detected with such tests are mostly residual serum proteins from the blood or else muscle proteins. Sec. 6 covers ELISA for meat protein using monoclonal antibodies (mAbs). Seafood speciation is discussed in Sec. 7, followed by a comparison of the different ELISA formats in Sec. 8. Attempts to detect meat and bone meal in animal feeds are described in Sec. 9, as are some new ELISA tests for the bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) agent.
