National standard on melamine determination issued

The national standard Determination of Melamine in Raw Milk and Dairy Products(GB/T 22388-2008) , immediately effective, was issued with the approval of the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine(AQSIQ) and the Standardization Administration of China(SAC) on October 7. Responding to Sanlu milk incident, SAC immediately launched the procedures for formulation of national standards, and set up a working group consisting of Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Chinese Academy of Inspection and Quarantine (CAIQ), China Food Quality and Safety Supervision and Testing Center(CFQS), and Shanghai Institute of Supervision & Testing on Product Quality(SQI) to draw up related standards. The standard was drawn up on the basis of such current national standards as The Determination of Non-Protein-Nitrogen Content in Milk and Dairy Products and The Determination of Melamine in Products of Plant Origin, with reference to detection methods of melamine by FDA and FCC. Melamine determination methods set in the standard are HPLC, GC-MS or GC-MS/MS, and LC-MS/MS, with quantification limits of 2mg/kg, 0.05 mg/kg, and 0.01mg/kg respectively. The standard applies to the quantitative measurement of melamine level in raw milk, dairy products and products with milk content. Testing institutes can choose among the three according to product types and limit restrictions. The document can be found on the official websites of AQSIQ and SAC