How to Detect the Food Contaminant Melamine in the US

An inexpensive method to detect melamine food poisoning was developed on July 22, 2009 by members of the University of Minnesota's BioTechnology Institute after the FDA learned that manufacturers in China were adding melamine to infant formula. This was done to increase its nitrogen content, which is an indirect chemical indicator of the amount of protein content found in food in laboratory tests. Melamine-contaminated food poisons both animals and people. It causes fatal kidney failure in infants and the formation of kidney stones in both cats and dogs. Melamine is detected by the enzyme melamine deaminase.

Things You'll Need

• Dry food
• Food grinder or mortar and pestle
• Food scale
• 200 mL graduated bottle with cap
• Cheesecloth
• Bucket
• Pipette
• Melamine test kit

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Instructions

• 1

  Grind the dried food with a food grinder or mortar and pestle until it has the consistency of coffee grounds. Place 50 g into a 200 mL graduated bottle with cap.

• 2

  Pour 100 mL of the extraction buffer liquid from the test kit into the 200 mL graduated bottle with the dried ground test food. Secure the cap on the graduated bottle and shake it for one minute until the grounds are suspended or dissolved in the buffer liquid.

• 3

  Let the buffer mixture sit for two minutes or until the grounds have settled into a layer. Clarify the liquid extract by pouring it through cheesecloth until it is clear.

• 4

  Use a pipette to remove 0.5 mL of the clarified extract and place into the provided reaction vial. Set the test strips arrow first, or arrow down, into the vial and let it sit for five minutes. Read the results. A lighter test line from the control line of the strip means that the sample has more than 2.5 ppm melamine and it should not be consumed. A test line that is darker or the same color as the control line means that the sample contains less than 2.5 ppm melamine.