The Glyphosate Strip Test is a rapid immunochromatographic test designed solely for use in the qualitative screening of Glyphosate in water and food samples. For food samples such as honey, lentils, baby food, wheat/oat cereal, a sample extraction is necessary. For these and other matrices of interest, please contact Eurofins Abraxis for the appropriate technical bulletin and/or matrix validation guidelines.
The Glyphosate Strip Test provides only preliminary qualitative test results. If necessary, positive samples can be confirmed by ELISA, HPLC, or other conventional methods. The test is based on the recognition of Glyphosate by specific antibodies. The sample to be tested is derivatized and then added to the conical test vial containing specific antibodies for Glyphosate labeled with a gold colloid. The Glyphosate conjugate on the membrane strip competes for antibody binding sites with the Glyphosate that may be present in the sample. A control line, produced by a different antibody/antigen reaction, is also present on the membrane strip. The control line is not influenced by the presence or absence of Glyphosate in the sample and, therefore, should be present in all reactions. In the absence of Glyphosate in the sample, the colloidal gold labeled antibody complex moves with the sample by capillary action to react with the immobilized Glyphosate conjugate. An antibody-antigen reaction occurs forming a visible line in the ‘test’ area. The formation of two visible lines of similar intensity indicates a negative test result, meaning the test did not detect Glyphosate at or below the established cut-off point for the test. If the Glyphosate is present in the sample, it competes with the immobilized Glyphosate conjugate in the test area for the antibody binding sites on the colloidal gold labeled complex. If a sufficient amount of Glyphosate is present, it will fill all of the available binding sites, thus preventing attachment of the labeled antibody to the Glyphosate conjugate, therefore preventing the development of a colored line. If a colored line is not visible in the test line region, or if the test line is lighter than the control line, Glyphosate is present at a detectable level (>2.5 ppb). Semi-quantitative results can be obtained by comparing the sample test strip appearance to the appearance of test strips from solutions of known Glyphosate concentrations (control solutions). Glyphosate controls are available through Eurofins Abraxis.
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