A Comparison of Commercially Available Peanut Elisa Test Kits on the Analysis of Samples of Dark and Milk Chocolate

Abstract

Reactions to peanut proteins by certain sensitive members of the population can result in dramatic and potentially catastrophic consequences. While peanut is not the only food known to cause allergies, it is the one that is most closely monitored. To address concerns related to peanut in food products, four commercial test kits have been developed to quantitatively analyze for peanut protein in finished products. This manuscript describes a study undertaken to compare these kits on reference samples of dark and milk chocolate containing known amounts of peanut. The results are mixed with the data suggesting that all kits were suitable for qualitative screening but were not suitable for general quantitative assays.