Sequential injection enzymatic assay for melamine detection in food.

Protecting the integrity of the nation's food from contamination by toxins is a very serious challenge for our country. Melamine, in particular, is a toxic substance which has recently emerged as a serious threat to the safety of the U.S. food supply. Recent, widely-reported food and feed contaminations by melamine have fueled an increased demand for improved assays to screen the food supply for melamine contamination. However, the current testing methods all possess significant limitations which stifle their capacity for comprehensive testing of the food supply. We have recently commercialized a simple, rapid enzymatic assay for melamine using a microbial melamine deaminase enzyme. This assay has a very flexible design and can be adapted to a more rugged and sensitive detection platform (than its current microplate format). In this project, we will invent a new sequential injection based enzymatic assay for the detection of melamine in food samples. This new assay will combine the rapid and direct enzymatic test with the highly sensitive, reproducible and rugged nature of sequential injection instruments. The more robust design of the assay will allow better sensitivity of detection with less sample preparation cost and effort than by currently available methods. Our new product will allow food safety analysts to conveniently and cost-effectively detect melamine in a wide variety of food and feed sample types.