R+D CSIC

Antibodies to measure fungicide residues

Scientists at the CSIC and the University of Valencia have generated antibodies to determine the fungicides boscalid, cyprodinil, pyrimethanil and fludioxonil thus ensuring that maximum residue limits in food crops are met. This scientific team has expertise in obtaing virtually any antibody for toxin detection in food at the request of companies.  

Boscalid, cyprodinil, pyrimethanil and fludioxonil are relatively new fungicides in the market, which have become very popular and are often used in stages close to harvest and even during periods of postharvest storage. When used in these final stages, the probability of reaching the consumer and the consumption risks involved increases.

Maximum residue limits have been established for these fungicides in agro-food products. Generally, measuring these residual concentrations requires chromatographic or spectrometric methods or a combination of both, which is a slow process.

Scientists at the CSIC and the University of Valencia have generated antibodies for a faster and easier detection of these fungicides. They have been successfully used in direct and indirect competitive ELISA sensors to detect extremely low concentrations. As antibodies are specific for boscalid, cyprodinil, pyrimethanil and fludioxonil, their use is addressed to applications in which the target are these molecules.

Some producers could be interested in offering products with a free-pesticide guarantee; products such as the wine or the fruit juices

Antonio Abad, a CSIC scientist at the Instituto de Agroquímica y Tecnología de Alimentos (IATA), explains: “These fungicides are widely used for fruit and, especially, for grapes, and there is a potential risk of them arriving to the grape juice and the wine”. Probably, the low concentrations of these compounds doesn’t represent a health risk but there are producers who can be interested in offering products with a free-pesticide guarantee. This could be the case of wine, which is a high added-value product, or the case of fruit juices.

Also, the antibodies could be used for companies to monitor the production: to check, for instance, that systems to automatically dose and apply the fungicides are working properly, and there is neither too much pesticide nor too little.  Now, patent licensees are sought to develop kits based on this approach.

The team led by Antonio Abad has expertise in the development of these types of molecules and their transference to companies specialized in immunodiagnostic kits. The group can obtain antibodies for virtually any organic molecule at the companies’ requests.  Nowadays its activity is focused on fungicides, on toxins produced by fungi (mycotoxins) and by microalgae (phycotoxins).

Contact:

Mª Jesús Añón Marín
IATA -CSIC
Tel.: + 34 – 963 900022
E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

• Prev
• Next