Merck Product Suitable for Detection of Melamine in Food     

The chromatography column SeQuantTM ZIC.-HILIC from Merck KGaA can be used for detecting melamine in food.
   With the use of SeQuantTM 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.
   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 SeQuantTM ZIC.-HILIC. The background for this was melamine-contaminated animal feed imported to the United States from China.
   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. 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.