A Chemiluminescent Antibody Array System for Detection of Foodborne Pathogens in Milk

A foodborne antibody array (FAbA) was developed as a rapid, inexpensive, and accurate detection to simultaneously detect Escherichia coli O157:H7 and Salmonella spp. using a custom-made chemiluminescent detector. We have optimized fabrication processes, selected the antibody concentrations, calibrated the signals to the pathogen amount, and minimized assay time. In comparison with ∼4 hours for ELISA, FAbA takes only 75 minutes to achieve relatively the same sensitivities (8 × 104 and 5 × 107 CFU/ml for E. coli and Salmonella, respectively). The FAbA was able to detect the pathogens in milk at the same detection limits as in the buffer.