On the heels of the Chinese melamine debacle, Bruker Daltonics Inc., a Billerica, Massachusetts company, is introducing a new 5 minute melamine and cyanuric acid detection assay for its HCTultra™ Ion Trap Mass Spectrometer (pictured). The company says its assay not only detects but also quantifies the amounts of melamine and cyanurate in food.
A five minute, accurate LC-MS/MS analysis method has been developed by Bruker Daltonics’ food safety development laboratory in Australia. This robust, easy-to-use and cost-effective method for the extraction, detection and quantification of melamine and CA uses the speed, sensitivity and excellent quantitative capabilities of the high-capacity ion-trap mass spectrometer HCTultra™, hyphenated with a Dionex UltiMate™ 3000 LC system and Acclaim™ Mixed-Mode WAX-1 column. The method is capable of detecting melamine in various matrixes well below the concentrations required by various food safety and other regulatory authorities around the world, such as the limits set by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of 1 ppm for melamine and cyanuric acid in infant formula, and 2.5 ppm for other foods.
Dr. Matthias Pelzing, Asia-Pacific Applications Manager for Bruker Daltonics, explained: "We recommend LC-MS/MS methods due to their straight-forward sample preparation, compared to GC-MS methods which often require sample derivatisation. With our new routine analysis method we have demonstrated that melamine can be detected down to trace levels of 0.05 ppb, and that it is possible to quantify melamine at concentrations relevant to various international food authorities in 5 minutes."
Mr. Clive Seymour, Executive Vice President of Bruker Daltonics, commented: "Due to its robustness, ease of use, small footprint and lower cost, our HCT ion trap-based solution offers significant practical and operational advantages over traditional triple-quad MRM approaches. In addition, the superior full scan sensitivity of our unique HCT ion trap technology offers not only outstanding detection limits for melamine and CA, but also the option of full-scan identification of other unknown, new or modified food contaminants with superior sensitivity."
White paper: Melamine and Cyanuric Acid Detection in 5 Minutes using LCMS (.pdf)…
Press release: Bruker Daltonics Introduces Sensitive, Five Minute Melamine Food Safety Testing Solution Based on Robust and Cost-Effective HCT(TM) Ion Trap Mass Spectrometry…
Product page: HCTultra…