Simultaneous determination of melamine and related compounds by capillary zone electrophoresis

Investigation of melamine and cyanuric acid concentration in several brands of liquid milk and its non-carcinogenic risk assessment in adults and infants

In this study, the melamine and cyanuric acid concentration of widely used milk brands and the probability of non-carcinogenic risk of the brands for adults and infants were investigated. These values were 1.37 mg/L, 1.10 mg/L, and 1.09 mg/L, which corresponded to creamy sterilized sample, high-fat (creamy) pasteurized sample, and low-fat (less-creamy) pasteurized sample, respectively. Similarly, the highest amount of cyanuric acid occurred in brand A with the values of 0.79 mg/L, 0.65 mg/L, and 0.64 mg/L, which was reported in the same samples mentioned for melamine. The HQ (Hazard Quotient) of melamine in the brands of A, B, C and D for adults was 0.0025, 0.0011, 0.0006 and 0.0008 respectively. These values for infants were reported as 2.2280, 0.9444, 0.5714 and 0.6714 respectively. The risk probability of melamine for adults was less than 1. However, the HQ in brand A for infants was greater than 1 (2.380), which indicate the high probability of non-carcinogenic risk. Furthermore, the HI (Hazard Index) values of the brands of A, B, C and D for infants were 2.7913, 1.1737, 0.7067 and 0.838, respectively. The simultaneous melamine and cyanuric acid in the brands A and B in for infants increase the non-carcinogenic risk probability by approximately 2.8 and 1.2 times, respectively. The results revealed that the melamine and cyanuric acid concentrations in creamy milk samples (0.5%) were higher than in less-creamy milk samples (2.5%). Moreover, the amount of the compounds in sterilized milk samples was higher than pasteurized. In this study, a conversion factor (0.7) was proposed in order to find out the concentration of cyanuric acid in milk sample with the amount of melamine is known but the cyanuric acid concentration is unknown.

The creation of selective imprinted cavities on quartz crystal microbalance electrode for the detection of melamine in milk sample

Molecularly imprinted polymer based nanofilms specific to melamine were synthesized on quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) electrode surface. Contact angle measurements, atomic force microscopy, ellipsometry and scanning electron microscopy were used for characterizations process. Some of the findings of the study are as follows: pH 6.0 was found as optimal working pH for melamine detection. Prepared MIP QCM electrode showed a linearity of 99.53% in the concentration range of 50-1000 ng/mL. Langmuir-Freundlich hybrid model was the best fitted isotherm for whole concentration range. The performance of MIP QCM electrode was also confirmed by determining of melamine in melamine spiked milk samples. As a conclusion, the results figured out that not only QCM nanosensor for specific melamine detection but also polymerization strategy were classified as an intriguing alternative for developing new melamine sensing platforms. Limit of detection (LOD) and limit of quantification (LOQ) were calculated as 2.3 ng/mL and 7.8 ng/mL, respectively.

Assessment of Melamine in Different Water Samples with ZnO-doped Co3 O4 Nanoparticles on a Glassy Carbon Electrode by Differential Pulse Voltammetry

In this investigation, a melamine electrochemical sensor has been developed by using wet-chemically synthesized low-dimensional aggregated nanoparticles (NPs) of ZnO-doped Co₃ O₄ as sensing substrate that were decorated onto flat glassy carbon electrode (GCE). The characterization of NPs such as UV-Vis, FTIR, XRD, XPS, EDS, and FESEM was done for detailed investigations in optical, functional, structural, elemental, and morphological analyses. The ZnO-doped Co₃ O₄ NPs decorated GCE was used as a sensing probe to analyze the target chemical melamine in a phosphate buffer at pH 5.7 by applying differential pulse voltammetry (DPV). It exhibited good performances in terms of sensor analytical parameters such as large linear dynamic range (LDR; 0.15-1.35 mM) of melamine detection, high sensitivity (80.6 μA mM^-1  cm^-2 ), low limit of detection (LOD; 0.118±0.005 mM), low limit of quantification (LOQ; 0.393 mM), and fast response time (30 s). Besides this, the good reproducibility (in several hours) and repeatability were investigated under identical conditions. Moreover, it was implemented to measure the long-time stability, electron mobility, less charge-transfer resistance, and analyzed diffusion-controlled process for the oxidation reaction of the NPs assembled working GCE electrode, which showed outstanding chemical sensor performances. For validation, real environmental samples were collected from various water sources and investigated successfully with regard to the reliability of the selective melamine detection with prepared NPs coated sensor probe. Therefore, this approach might be introduced as an alternative route in the sensor technology to detect selectively unsafe chemicals by an electrochemical method with nanostructure-doped materials for the safety of environmental, ecological, healthcare fields in a broad scale.

Food safety and quality assessment: comprehensive review and recent trends in the applications of ion mobility spectrometry (IMS)

Ion mobility spectrometry (IMS) is an analytical separation and diagnostic technique that is simple and sensitive and a rapid response and low-priced technique for detecting trace levels of chemical compounds in different matrices. Chemical agents and environmental contaminants are successfully detected by IMS and have been recently considered to employ in food safety. In addition, IMS uses stand-alone or coupled analytical diagnostic tools with chromatographic and spectroscopic methods. Scientific publications show that IMS has been applied 21% in the pharmaceutical industry, 9% in environmental studies and 13% in quality control and food safety. Nevertheless, applications of IMS in food safety and quality analysis have not been adequately explored. This review presents the IMS-related analysis and focuses on the application of IMS in food safety and quality. This review presents the important topics including detection of traces of chemicals, rate of food spoilage and freshness, food adulteration and authenticity as well as natural toxins, pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, veterinary, and growth promoter drug residues. Further, persistent organic pollutants (POPs), acrylamide, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH), biogenic amines, nitrosamine, furfural, phenolic compounds, heavy metals, food packaging materials, melamine, and food additives were also examined for the first time. Therefore, it is logical to predict that the application of the IMS technique in food safety, food quality, and contaminant analysis will be impressively increased in the future. HighlightsCurrent status of IMS for residues and contaminant detection in food safety.To assess all the detected contaminants in food safety, for the first time.Identified IMS-related parameters and chemical compounds in food safety control.

Electrochemical Detection of Melamine by Using Reduced Graphene Oxide-Copper Nanoflowers Modified Glassy Carbon Electrode

In this work, a robust and reliable electrochemical sensor was developed for sensitive detection of non-electroactive melamine (MEL) using a modified glassy carbon electrode with ascorbic acid (AA) as the active recognition element. To increase the current signal of AA, the working electrode was successively modified with l-arginine (l-Arg) and reduced graphene oxide-copper nanoflower composite. The voltammetry measurements denoted that the hydrogen bonding was formed between AA and MEL. Using the optimum conditions, the proposed enhanced sensor can detect MEL concentrations ranging from 10 × 10^-9 to 9.0 × 10^-8 M with a detection limit of 5.0 × 10^-9 M that is proportional to the decrease of AA in the anodic peak current. Finally, the proposed sensor was successfully applied for the determination of MEL in commercial infant milk samples and good recovery values were obtained.

Poly(adenine)-templated fluorescent Au nanoclusters for the rapid and sensitive detection of melamine

A rapid and label-free fluorescence sensing strategy has been established for the sensitive determination of melamine (MA) on the basis of poly(adenine) (poly (A))-templated Au nanoclusters (AuNCs). The poly(A)-templated AuNCs possessed excellent luminescence and photo-stability. In the presence of Hg²⁺, the luminescence of AuNCs was quenched by Hg²⁺ through the metallophilic interactions between Au⁺ and Hg²⁺. When melamine was introduced, the fluorescence intensity of sensing system could be recovered. There was a greater coordination interaction between Hg²⁺ and melamine, which blocked the Hg²⁺-mediated fluorescence quenching of AuNCs. The assay allowed sensitive determination of melamine with a linear detection range from 50 nM to 100 μM. The limit of detection was as low as 16.6 nM. Furthermore, the label-free strategy was successfully employed for the detection of melamine concentration in real samples.

Preparation and characterization of molecularly imprinted solid-phase extraction column coupled with high-performance liquid chromatography for selective determination of melamine

We synthesized a selective molecularly imprinted solid-phase extraction (MIP-SPE) column and established an extraction and enrichment method using this MIP-SPE column. By coupling with HPLC, we developed a new method to detect trace amounts of melamine in eggs. The MIP-SPE column was synthesized by in situ thermal-initiated polymerization using melamine as the template, methacrylic acid as the functional monomer, ethylene glycol dimethacrylate as the cross-linker and azodiisobutyronitrile as the initiator. HPLC was used to evaluate the identification and enrichment capability of the MIP-SPE column and for the measurement of melamine in the sample. The melamine concentration exhibited an excellent linear relationship in the range of 0.1-25.0 µg ml-1 (r = 0.9983). The identification capability of the MIP-SPE column was apparently superior to that of the non-imprinted polymer solid-phase extraction column; an average enrichment factor of 46.8-fold (RSD = 3.5%) was obtained for 0.4 µg ml-1 melamine by the MIP-SPE column. When the MIP-SPE HPLC method was applied to the detection of melamine in eggs, an average recovery rate of 93.5-102.0% (RSD = 3.6-4.9%) and a limit of detection of 0.05 µg kg-1 were obtained. This method is simple, fast and cost-effective; thus, it can greatly simplify the pre-treatment of complex samples and can be used in the detection of residual melamine in eggs and other products.

Direct Detection of Toxic Contaminants in Minimally Processed Food Products Using Dendritic Surface-Enhanced Raman Scattering Substrates

We present a method for the surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS)-based detection of toxic contaminants in minimally processed liquid food products, through the use of a dendritic silver nanostructure, produced through electrokinetic assembly of nanoparticles from solution. The dendritic nanostructure is produced on the surface of a microelectrode chip, connected to an AC field with an imposed DC bias. We apply this chip for the detection of thiram, a toxic fruit pesticide, in apple juice, to a limit of detection of 115 ppb, with no sample preprocessing. We also apply the chip for the detection of melamine, a toxic contaminant/food additive, to a limit of detection of 1.5 ppm in milk and 105 ppb in infant formula. All the reported limits of detection are below the recommended safe limits in food products, rendering this technique useful as a screening method to identify liquid food with hazardous amounts of toxic contaminants.

Detection of Cyanuric Acid and Melamine in Infant Formula Powders by Mid-FTIR Spectroscopy and Multivariate Analysis

Chemometric methods using mid-FTIR spectroscopy were developed in order to reduce the time of study of melamine and cyanuric acid in infant formulas. Chemometric models were constructed using the algorithms Partial Least Squares (PLS1, PLS2) and Principal Component Regression (PCR) in order to correlate the IR signal with the levels of melamine or cyanuric acid in the infant formula samples. Results showed that the best correlations were obtained using PLS1 (R2: 0.9998, SEC: 0.0793, and SEP: 0.5545 for melamine and R2: 0.9997, SEC: 0.1074, and SEP: 0.5021 for cyanuric acid). Also, the SIMCA model was studied to distinguish between adulterated formulas and nonadulterated samples, giving optimum discrimination and good interclass distances between samples. Results showed that chemometric models demonstrated a good predictive ability of melamine and cyanuric acid concentrations in infant formulas, showing that this is a rapid and accurate technique to be used in the identification and quantification of these adulterants in infant formulas.

A new dual-emission fluorescence sensor based on carbon nanodots and gold nanoclusters for the detection of melamine

A new dual-emission fluorescence sensor is developed to detect melamine, in which the gold nanoclusters serve as the signal section and the carbon nanodots serve as the internal reference.

Rapid Quantification of Melamine in Different Brands/Types of Milk Powders Using Standard Addition Net Analyte Signal and Near-Infrared Spectroscopy

Multivariate calibration (MVC) and near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopy have demonstrated potential for rapid analysis of melamine in various dairy products. However, the practical application of ordinary MVC can be largely restricted because the prediction of a new sample from an uncalibrated batch would be subject to a significant bias due to matrix effect. In this study, the feasibility of using NIR spectroscopy and the standard addition (SA) net analyte signal (NAS) method (SANAS) for rapid quantification of melamine in different brands/types of milk powders was investigated. In SANAS, the NAS vector of melamine in an unknown sample as well as in a series of samples added with melamine standards was calculated and then the Euclidean norms of series standards were used to build a straightforward univariate regression model. The analysis results of 10 different brands/types of milk powders with melamine levels 0~0.12% (w/w) indicate that SANAS obtained accurate results with the root mean squared error of prediction (RMSEP) values ranging from 0.0012 to 0.0029. An additional advantage of NAS is to visualize and control the possible unwanted variations during standard addition. The proposed method will provide a practically useful tool for rapid and nondestructive quantification of melamine in different brands/types of milk powders.

High selectivity and sensitivity fluorescence sensing of melamine based on the combination of a fluorescent chemosensor and molecularly imprinted polymers

In this study, a sensitive and efficient approach was developed for the determination of melamine (MEL) based on the combination of molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) with a synthesized fluorescent chemosensor.

Determination of melamine in soil samples using surfactant-enhanced hollow fiber liquid phase microextraction followed by HPLC-UV using experimental design

Surfactant-enhanced hollow fiber liquid phase (SE-HF-LPME) microextraction was applied for the extraction of melamine in conjunction with high performance liquid chromatography with UV detection (HPLC–UV). Sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) was added firstly to the sample solution at pH 1.9 to form hydrophobic ion-pair with protonated melamine. Then the protonated melamine–dodecyl sulfate ion-pair (Mel–DS) was extracted from aqueous phase into organic phase immobilized in the pores and lumen of the hollow fiber. After extraction, the analyte-enriched 1-octanol was withdrawn into the syringe and injected into the HPLC. Preliminary, one variable at a time method was applied to select the type of extraction solvent. Then, in screening step, the other variables that may affect the extraction efficiency of the analyte were studied using a fractional factorial design. In the next step, a central composite design was applied for optimization of the significant factors having positive effects on extraction efficiency. The optimum operational conditions included: sample volume, 5 mL; surfactant concentration, 1.5 mM; pH 1.9; stirring rate, 1500 rpm and extraction time, 60 min. Using the optimum conditions, the method was analytically evaluated. The detection limit, relative standard deviation and linear range were 0.005 μg mL⁻¹, 4.0% (3 μg mL⁻¹, n = 5) and 0.01–8 μg mL⁻¹, respectively. The performance of the procedure in extraction of melamine from the soil samples was good according to its relative recoveries in different spiking levels (95–109%).

Stacking and analysis of melamine in milk products with acetonitrile-salt stacking technique in capillary electrophoresis

Melamine was measured in real milk products with capillary electrophoresis (CE) based on acetonitrile-salt stacking (ASS) method. Real milk samples were deproteinized with acetonitrile at a final concentration of 60% (v/v) and then injected hydrodynamically at 50 mBar for 40.0 s. The optimized buffer contains 80.0 mmol/L pH 2.8 phosphates. Melamine could be detected within 20.0 min at +10 kV with a low limit of detection (LOD) of 0.03 μmol/L. Satisfactory reproducibility (inter- and intraday RSD% both for migration time and peak area was lower than 5.0%) and a wide linearity range of 0.05 μmol/L ~ 10.0 μmol/L were achieved. The proposed method was suitable for routine assay of MEL in real milk samples that was subjected to a simple treatment step.

Dual hairpin-like molecular beacon based on coralyne-adenosine interaction for sensing melamine in dairy products

This study presents a novel dual hairpin-like molecular beacon (MB) for the selective and sensitive detection of melamine (MA) based on the conjugation of MA and thymine. In this protocol, the coordination between coralyne and adenosine (A) leaded a dual hairpin-like MB and the fluorophore-quencher pair is close proximity resulting in the fluorescence quenching. With the addition of MA, it conjugated with thymine in the loop part of dual hairpin-like MB by triple H-bonds, triggering the dissociation of the dual hairpin-like MB. The resulting spatial separation of the fluorophore from quencher induced the enhancement in fluorescence emission. Under the optimized conditions, the sensor exhibited a wide linear range of 8×10(-9)-1.6×10(-5) M (R(2)=0.9969) towards MA, with a low detection limit of 5 nM, approximately 4000 times lower than the Drug Administration and the US Food estimated MA safety limit. The real milk samples were also investigated with a satisfying result.

Recent developments in the detection of melamine

In recent years, there were two reported outbreaks of food borne illness associated with melamine. The presence of melamine and its related compounds in milk, feed, and other foods has resulted in the need for reliable methods for the detection and accurate quantification of this class of contaminants. The sample pretreatment for melamine in a complex matrix usually involves a liquid extraction by a polar solvent, followed by a further clean-up with solid phase extraction. Analyses of melamine and related compounds are commonly carried out by liquid or gas chromatographic methods conjugated with mass spectrometry. Other innovative screening methods, which use antibodies, molecularly imprinted polymers, capillary electrophoresis, and gold nanoparticles, are also used to develop assays and biosensors to melamine. However, many of these methods have been hindered by matrix effects, the solubility of melamine-cyanuric acid complex, and background contamination. This article reviews recent developments for detecting melamine and discusses future directions.

Voltamperometric discrimination of urea and melamine adulterated skimmed milk powder

Nitrogen compounds like urea and melamine are known to be commonly used for milk adulteration resulting in undesired intoxication; a well-known example is the Chinese episode occurred in 2008. The development of a rapid, reliable and economic test is of relevance in order to improve adulterated milk identification. Cyclic voltammetry studies using an Au working electrode were performed on adulterated and non-adulterated milk samples from different independent manufacturers. Voltammetric data and their first derivative were subjected to functional principal component analysis (f-PCA) and correctly classified by the KNN classifier. The adulterated and non-adulterated milk samples showed significant differences. Best results of prediction were obtained with first derivative data. Detection limits in milk samples adulterated with 1% of its total nitrogen derived from melamine or urea were as low as 85.0 mg · L(-1) and 121.4 mg · L(-1), respectively. We present this method as a fast and robust screening method for milk adulteration analysis and prevention of food intoxication.