Hi Garth and All:
 
>ELISA - mentioned before - is an antibody based technique
 
Your previous post explained the ELISA technique quite well, and it sounded
most appropriate to the problem.  I am curious, in the light of Murray
McGregor's comments about the problem of beekeepers feeding sugars to bee's
during the honey producing season as to whether the ELISA technique, would
in your opinion, still detect small quantities of corn or sugar cane protein
AFTER those had been "through the bee" (through many actually considering
how much they pass it around if radioisotope trace studies are any
indication).  And would you need one antibody for a protein unique to corn,
one for a protein unique to sugar cane, one for a protein unique to sugar
beet...? If so, could you test for all these antibodies still in ONE test?
(I am thinking about the cost figures you mentioned).  Would there be a
problem of similar proteins in nectar producing plants giving false
positives?  (Perhaps that would be difficult for you to predict.)
 
Regards, Stan