HPLC and spectrophotometry methods for measuring melamine migration from melamine dishes to food simulants

Melamine is an organic-based chemical usually found as enriched white nitrogen crystals. Since melamine is used for manufacturing food dishes and containers, there are concerns about melamine migration from the dishes into foods and subsequently the human body, particularly in children. As there are no routine techniques to measure melamine migration in food quality control laboratories in Iran, we here aimed to validate HPLC and spectrophotometry methods to measure migration of this substance. The HPLC and spectrophotometry techniques were adopted and validated. The level of melamine migration was measured in melamine ware of five brands in Iran market. Distilled water and acetic acid 3% were used as simulants. The dishes were in contact with the simulants for 90 min at 90 °C.The accuracy and precision were obtained as 94.9 and 95.3% for HPLC and 95.3% and 96.2% for spectrophotometry, respectively. Furthermore, the limit of detection (LOD) and limit of quantification (LOQ) were obtained as 145 and 435 ng/ml for HPLC, and 200 and 605 ng/ml for spectrophotometry, respectively. Our results indicated that HPLC can be a reliable method to measure low-level melamine. The spectrophotometry could also be applied as a feasible, accurate, and cost-effective method for measuring melamine in foodstuffs. • This research has tried to adopt a method to measure melamine migration in the regions where there are no routine techniques to measure melamine migration the same as Iranian food laboratories. • The validation results of HPLC and spectrophotometry methods showed 94.9% accuracy and 95.3% precision and 95.3 and 96.2% for spectrophotometry respectively which were reliable. • HPLC can be a reliable method to measure low-level melamine. The spectrophotometry could also be applied as a feasible, accurate, and cost-effective method for measuring melamine in foodstuffs.