Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) detection in food samples using an electrochemical immunosensor

In this work, a disposable electrochemical immunosensor, based on a competitive assay scheme, was applied to detect polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in food. For this purpose, antibodies against PCBs were directly immobilized onto the carbon surface of a disposable screen-printed electrode. A competition between the PCBs present in the sample and a fixed concentration of an enzyme-labeled PCB was realized and evaluated by electrochemical detection. Alkaline phosphatase was used as the enzyme label, coupled with differential pulse voltammetry (DPV) as the electrochemical technique. The immunosensor was tested on aroclor mixture detection (1242 and 1248) and then on some typologies of food samples to evaluate the possible application for real sample analysis. Samples analyzed were from different matrixes, such as sheep milk, bovine adipose tissue, and bovine muscle. Results obtained were compared with the accredited results according to ISO 17025 methods for PCB detection (HRGC-LRMS) as a confirmatory analysis. Preliminary results show the possibility to use this device as a screening method in food sample analysis. The negligible matrix effect observed may lead to a simplified extraction procedure, and considerable time and consumable savings are the immediate benefits given by the proposed method.