Use of an immunoassay as a means to detect polychlorinated biphenyls in animal fat

In this paper we describe the validation and utilization of the Hybrizyme(TM) DELFIA(R) immunoassay for detecting polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in animal fat. The immunoassay incorporates a rapid sample processing protocol that has been optimized to detect concentrations of PCBs in animal fat at or above 200 ng/g. The limit of detection of the assay was less than 50 ng/g. When the action level for the DELFIA assay was set at 100 ng/g to detect samples having 200 ng/g or more PCBs, the false negative rate was estimated at 0.2%. The false positive rate depends on the concentration of PCBs in the sample population and was estimated at 4% and 7% for samples having 10 ng/g and 20 ng/g PCBs, respectively. By utilizing the DELFIA assay system to select for positive samples and GC/MS analysis for confirmation analysis, an accurate and cost-effective programme has been established for the high throughput detection of PCBs in animal products.