Abstract: In this study, a competitive enzyme linked-immunosorbent assay (c-ELISA) using the polyclonal antibody against purified ovalbumin (OVA), the major protein in egg white, was proposed to quantify added egg white in surimi products. Sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) and Western blot results showed the high specificity of the anti-OVA polyclonal antibody. The limit of detection (LOD) of the c-ELISA method was 1.82 mg/kg, and the intra- and inter-assay coefficients of variation were 3.1% and 7.8%, respectively. Recovery rates of egg white added to fish meatballs ranged from 87.4% to 97.2%. The c-ELISA method was successfully applied to quantify added egg white in commercial surimi products, and results demonstrated that the added egg white content was 2.7–83.5 g/kg in six samples from different manufacturers. Our results indicated that the method established can be applied to quantify added egg white in surimi products.

Key words: egg white, ovalbumin, surimi products, competitive enzyme linked-immunosorbent assay (c-ELISA)