Development and validation of an indirect competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for monitoring organoarsenic compounds in edible chicken and pork and feed

• This is the first report of a broad-specificity antibody for organoarsenic (OA)s.
• Molecular modelling was carried out in this study.
• The ic-ELISA can be used for the determination of OAs in animal tissue and feed.
• The ic-ELISA can serve as a routine effective screening tool in any laboratory.

For the first time in this study, we used molecular modelling to design a suitable hapten (arsanilic acid, ASA) and produced a broad-specificity monoclonal antibody (mAb). This mAb exhibited the IC50 for ASA was 913.7 μg L−1 and showed the cross-reactivity to ASA (100%), carbarsone (849.2%), and nitarsone (1159.5%), respectively. Based on this mAb, an optimised indirect competitive enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ic-ELISA) protocol was developed to monitor organoarsenic compounds (OAs) in edible chicken and pork and feed, which the detection limit for OAs in a muscle matrix ranged from 74.2 μg kg−1 to 143.3 μg kg−1 and in a feed matrix ranged from 7.4 mg kg−1 to 11.8 mg kg−1, the recoveries were 61.3–109.6% with a coefficient of variation of less than 10.8%. These data demonstrated that the developed ic-ELISA is a reliable and useful tool for screening OAs in edible chicken and pork and feed.