ANTIBODY DEVELOPMENT AND ENZYME-LINKED-IMMUNOSORBENT-ASSAY FOR THE PROTEIN MARKER LACTATE-DEHYDROGENASE TO DETERMINE SAFE COOKING END-POINT TEMPERATURES OF TURKEY ROLLS

An indirect competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was developed for determining the end-cooking temperature of turkey breast rolls. Electrophoresis of extracts from turkey rolls processed to internal temperatures between 68.3 and 72.1-degrees-C revealed a single protein which disappeared from the extract at 70.9-degrees-C. This protein was identified as lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) on the basis of molecular weight determination by sodium dodecyl sulfate electrophoresis, enzyme assay, and LDH-specific stain on native polyacrylamide gels. Polyclonal antisera were raised in rabbits against purified turkey muscle LDH and commercial chicken muscle LDH and yielded titers ranging from 3.6 x 10(5) to 1 x 10(6) after 10 weeks of immunization. Turkey muscle LDH antisera cross-reacted with chicken muscle LDH and vice versa but not with other species. The LDH content in precooked turkey breast roll extracts as determined by ELISA decreased as the end-cooking temperature increased, suggesting that the assay could serve as a simple and rapid method to determine adequacy of processing.