Baseline levels of melamine in food items sold in Canada. I. Dairy products and soy-based dairy replacement products.
A variety of dairy and soy-based dairy replacement products (n = 246) purchased from Canadian retail outlets were analysed for baseline levels of melamine (MEL) using a sensitive LC-MS/MS method (method quantification limit = 4 µg/kg). MEL was infrequently detected; only 14% of the items analysed contained quantifiable levels of MEL. The concentrations observed, aside from one recalled sample of candy, ranged from 0.00435 to 0.276 mg/kg, and were at least 10 times lower than the 2.5 mg/kg interim standard for melamine in products containing milk and milk-derived ingredients established by Health Canada. The consumption of foods containing these low levels of MEL does not constitute a health risk for consumers.
a Food Research Division , Banting Research Centre 2203D, Health Canada , Ottawa , Ontario , Canada, K1A 0L2.
Sheryl A
SA
Tittlemier
Benjamin P-Y
BP
Lau
Cathie
C
Ménard
Catherine
C
Corrigan
Melissa
M
Sparling
Dean
D
Gaertner
Xu-Liang
XL
Cao
Bob
B
Dabeka
D000818:Animals; D002170:Canada; D002417:Cattle; D003611:Dairy Products / Q000032:analysis*; D005506:Food Contamination / Q000032:analysis*; D008892:Milk / Q000737:chemistry*; D045730:Soy Foods / Q000032:analysis*; D041942:Soy Milk / Q000737:chemistry*; D014227:Triazines / Q000737:chemistry*
D014227:Triazines; C011907:melamine
LC/MS; additives, general