A sensitive and specific enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for the detection of pymetrozine in vegetable, cereal, and meat

Pymetrozine is a neonicotinoid insecticide with high efficacy against aphids and planthoppers, and has been used worldwide. To monitor its residue in food, a highly specific and sensitive monoclonal antibody (McAb) was prepared, and an indirect competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (icELISA) was developed to detect pymetrozine, with a 50% inhibition value (IC50) of 7.70 μg/L. The McAb showed little affinity for acetamiprid, hexazinone, metamitron, nitenpyram, metribuzin, and imidacloprid. The limits of detection (LOD) calculated from the analysis of broccoli, cabbage, wheat, maize, rice, chicken, fish, and crayfish samples were from 1.56 to 2.72 μg/kg and the average recoveries were from 81.25 to 103.19%. icELISA was confirmed using liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). These results demonstrated that the optimised icELISA is a convenient and effective analytical tool for monitoring pymetrozine residues in food.