Eurofins’ global Melamine testing method supported by new milk testing standard developed by IDF and ISO

10-Jan-2011 - Belgium

The International Dairy Federation (IDF) and International Organization for Standardization (ISO) have developed a new test standard for the detection of melamine and cyanuric acid content in liquid milk, powdered milk products and infant formulae. The new standard, “Guidelines for the quantitative determination of melamine and cyanuric acid by LC-MS/MS”, advises on sampling, test procedures and
performance with examples of test results.

These guidelines are consistent with those already used in Eurofins’ Competence Centers for Contaminants across US, Europe and Asia since 2008. Eurofins is the first and only testing service provider that has established guidelines and methods consistent with the IDF and ISO standard on a global basis.

Following the melamine in milk crisis that affected thousands of babies, and the subsequent recall of milk and dairy products in China in 2008, Eurofins had developed and implemented the LC-MS/MS method (liquid chromatography combined with double mass spectrometry) for the analysis of infant food and dairy products. The analysis detects the presence of melamine in the ppb range, and is much more sensitive than the original GC method (gas chromatography combined with mass spectrometry). Eurofins’ high equipment capacities allow laboratory analysis of hundreds of samples per day, with a turn-around-time of 24 to 36 hours upon receipt of sample on the Express Service, or 5 to 7 days on the Standard Service.

The report from the IDF and ISO is currently published as a technical report, but is expected eventually to become a fully-fledged International Standard.

The consistency of Eurofins’ methods with the new standard issued by the IDF and ISO validates its strong competence and pioneering technical expertise in laboratory analysis, having already deployed the method across the relevant laboratories within the Group since 2008. More importantly, Eurofins offers identical LCMS/MS analysis at several laboratories globally, including Eurofins WEJ in Germany, Eurofins Central Analytical Laboratory (CAL) in Louisiana, USA, and at Eurofins’ Suzhou Laboratory in China, addressing the European, US and Asian markets respectively.

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