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Detecting melamine

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A University of Miami assistant professor and her collaborators have developed a fast, economical and easy method to detect melamine in milk.

Melamine is the compound found in contaminated pet food and in tainted dairy products from China in 2007 and 2008 respectively. The laced dairy products were responsible for sickening thousands of people, especially children. The situation caused recalls of Chinese dairy products all over the world.

Monitoring melamine-tainted products continues to be a worldwide concern. Melamine is an industrial substance commonly used in plastics and fertilizers. Since melamine is high in nitrogen, when added to foods it can make the products appear higher in protein value during standard testing. However, when ingested, the chemical can cause serious health problems and in some cases death.

’Current methods of melamine detection in milk are costly and time consuming,’ said University of Miami assistant engineering professor Na Li. ’Our work represents a significant step towards the rapid detection of melamine, which addresses a critical global issue.’

The new detection method can be completed in less than 15 minutes.

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