Determination of Melamine in Food using ZIC®-HILIC2008-09-29, 14:00 The chromatography column SeQuant™ ZIC®-HILIC from Merck KGaA can be used for detecting melamine in food
In 2007, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) initiated the development of special measurement methods for detecting melamine and other substances in animal feed, including the Merck product SeQuant™ ZIC®-HILIC. The background for this was melamine-contaminated animal feed imported to the United States from China. Merck is one of the market leaders in liquid chromatography and has been developing products and technologies for chromatography for more than 100 years. In early 2008, Merck acquired the Swedish company SeQuant, which focuses on the development of silica-gel or polymer-based sorbents for "zwitterionic hydrophilic interaction chromatography" - ZIC®-HILIC for short - and ion chromatography. What is ZIC®-HILIC technology?The silica-gel or polymer-based sorbents are used to separate a broad range of polar chemical compounds, for example inorganic or organic ions as well as organic polar chemical compounds, including peptides. The use of ZIC®-HILIC technology markedly improves the separation of these chemical compounds. Numerous users consider ZIC®-HILIC technology to be the gold standard in hydrophilic interaction chromatography. Details on the determination of melamine and other compounds in food by means of ZIC®-HILIC technology can be found at the website of Merck Chemicals and on the website of Merck SeQuant (this website). [ZIC®-HILIC »] [What is HILIC? »] [Melamine Analysis »] [Statements on potential health effects from official bodies »] Update: [Links to the full method on the FDA website is now awailable »]
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NEWS ARCHIVE
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With the use of SeQuant™ ZIC®-HILIC, even minute quantities of melamine and major toxic triazine compounds, like cyanuric acid, can be precisely and simultaneously separated and detected. Thus the quality of food can be extensively monitored using this method. It offers an advantage over alternative measurement methods, as food contaminated with melamine may also contain other toxic triazine compounds, which - in combination with melamine - may possibly intensify the negative effects of contaminated food, e.g. milk powder.[News Archive]
