RSSL Triples its Response to Melamine

The company has added an ELISA (Enzyme linked immunoassay) technique, providing an alternative method to detect melamine in a wide range of foods. The ELISA method is likely to be especially useful in screening raw materials.

10/10/08 Fears that the melamine scandal could still escalate further to include more products has prompted Reading Scientific Services Ltd to add a third technique to the armoury of tests it can use to detect melamine. Only two days ago the company announced that it had validated new methods using HPLC (high performance liquid chromatography), and LC-MS (liquid chromatography mass spectrometry). Now it has also added an ELISA (Enzyme linked immunoassay) technique, providing an alternative method to detect melamine in a wide range of foods. The ELISA method is likely to be especially useful in screening raw materials and for confirming the results obtained by other methods.

The melamine scandal, which initially involved baby milk formulas, has now extended to other products such as milk and chocolates, and has already claimed four lives in China. The EU currently requires all items imported from China that contain more than 15% milk as an ingredient, or products where the percentage of milk content cannot be established, to be subject to documentary, identity and physical checks, including laboratory analysis. If melamine levels are found in excess of 2.5 ppm, then those products will need to be destroyed.

"Whilst everyone is hoping that the melamine problem has now been contained, the limits may yet be reviewed, and perhaps the biggest fear is that products other than those containing milk might have been similarly contaminated. The addition of an ELISA test to RSSL's repertoire is all about being prepared for every eventuality," says Melindee Hastie.

The two test methods announced earlier this week utilize HPLC (high performance liquid chromatography) and the more sensitive LC-MS (liquid chromatography mass spectrometry) allowing RSSL to offer variable limits of detection according to the clients' requirements. Detection limits as low as 1 ppm are achievable for certain matrices.