Recent developments in analytical methods for tracing gluten

According to Codex only foods not exceeding a level of 20 mg gluten/kg may bear a gluten-free label. This also sets the standard for analytical methods for gluten detection. In this paper the currently used methods for gluten analysis are reviewed and new developments are discussed. At the moment, the most commonly used methods are ELISA-based, but also PCR-based methods have been successfully employed. Proteomics-based methods such as reversed-phase (RP-) or gel permeation (GP-) high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) have been widely used for characterisation of cereal proteins. Methods combining mass spectrometry and liquid chromatography (LC-MS/MS) are the most promising non-immunological approaches for accurate quantitation of gluten traces. However, due to its requirement of expensive equipment and expertise it is not widely used for routine analysis. New developments include immunosensors, aptamers, microarrays, and multianalyte profiling. Despite the merits and challenges of the different methods, the need for an independent reference method and a generally applicable reference material remain.