Determination of Melamine and Derivatives in Foods by Liquid Chromatography Coupled to Atmospheric Pressure Chemical Ionization Mass Spectrometry and Diode Array Detection

Abstract

Two liquid chromatographic methods based on atmospheric pressure chemical ionization mass spectrometry (LC-APCI-MS) and diode array detection (DAD) are evaluated for the rapid determination of melamine (MEL) and structurally related compounds, including ammeline (AMN), ammelide (AMD), and cyanuric acid (CA) in foods. Both procedures used ion-exchange LC and isocratic elution. Samples were extracted by homogenization with acetonitrile/water/diethylamine. Specificity was demonstrated for LC-MS by the retention characteristics and MS spectra, by comparing with commercial standards. Specificity was only demonstrated in the case of LC-DAD for MEL and AMN, considering the retention characteristics and UV spectra. The recoveries obtained for spiked samples were satisfactory for all the analytes with LC-MS. The proposed procedure, LC-APCI-MS, was successfully applied to the analysis of different baby foods, including infant formula and breakfast cereal, and samples of rice flour, potato starch, soya drink, and coconut drink.

Quantification of Cyromazine and Melamine in Fish and Poultry Feeds by High Performance Liquid Chromatography – Diode Array Detection

“…Melamine is useful in the manufacture of formaldehyde resins intended for the production of seals, plastics, coatings, commercial filters, adhesives, dishware and kitchenware. The alkaline hydrolysis of MEL yields structurally related compounds that may include ammelide, ammeline and cyanuric acid, and are usually added to foods and feeds to falsely increase their apparent protein contents [8]. Melamine had also been used as a binding agent in the production of fish and shrimp feed [9].…”

“…Thus, resulting in the possibility of MEL tainted poultry and fish products [4, 10,11]. Melamine, and its metabolic and degradation products have not been permitted as direct additives in feeds, their traces, however, may be detected in feeds due to crops fertilized with MEL related products, or as a breakdown product from CYR that has been included as a veterinary drug [8].…”

“…The routine analysis of poultry and fish feeds based on the Kjeldahl method did not reveal MEL or its analogues because they mimic proteins when tested on the basis of the method [8]. Furthermore, since they are excluded on the target list of compounds for control, this has resulted in several illnesses and deaths across countries including Italy, China, USA, Netherlands, and France [12,13].…”

Sensitive colorimetric detection of melamine with 1,4-dithiothreitol modified gold nanoparticles

“…1 Considering its potential toxicity, signicant efforts have been made towards the rapid and effective detection of melamine. To date, many analytical techniques, such as mass spectrometry, 2 gas chromatography/ mass spectrometry, 3 high-performance liquid chromatography, 4 liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry, 5 electrochemistry, chemiluminescence, 6,7 near infrared spectroscopy, 8 Raman spectrometry, 9 capillary electrophoresis, 10 and enzymelinked immunosorbent assay, 11 have been developed for the detection of melamine in milk and milk-based products. However, most of the abovementioned strategies are timeconsuming because a complex pretreatment of samples is needed.…”