Thermo Fisher Scientific LC-MS/MS Solution Used in New U.S. FDA Food Safety Method to Detect Melamine Content in Pet Food

Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc., the world leader in serving science, today announced that a new method to detect melamine content in catfish was developed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), after the recent discovery of contamination from imported food sources.

The method uses Thermo Scientific instrumentation for a liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) solution, and is published in the U.S. FDA’s Laboratory Information Bulletin No. 4396, “Determination of Melamine Residues in Catfish Tissue by Triple Quadrupole LC-MS/MS with HILIC Chromatography.” Recent news coverage about the presence of melamine — an industrial chemical used in the manufacturing of plastics, flame retardants and other products — in pet food, animal feed, wheat gluten and other protein-based food commodities has raised the general public’s concern about the chemical in the food supply chain for both animals and humans.

According to the bulletin, “because animals may eat food contaminated with melamine residues, there is a need for analytical methods to determine melamine residues that may be present in animal tissues.” The FDA performed the LC-MS/MS method using the Thermo Scientific TSQ Quantum™ triple quadrupole mass spectrometer coupled to a Thermo Scientific Surveyor™ MS pump and autosampler. Additionally, Thermo Scientific Xcalibur™ data system software was used to acquire and analyze the data.

The FDA’s method showed that the Thermo Scientific instrumentation detected melamine at levels of 10 parts per billion in catfish extract, thereby exceeding the agency’s requirements. Melamine is not approved for use in food or animal feed. Contaminated vegetable proteins imported into the United States from China were found to be used as ingredients in pet food, which sparked a nationwide pet food recall that began March 15, 2007. Additionally, a portion of the tainted pet food was used to produce farm animal feed and fish feed. The FDA and the U.S. Department of Agriculture discovered that some animals that ate the tainted feed had been processed into human food.

The Thermo Scientific TSQ Quantum triple quadrupole system is the only instrument that enables Highly Selective Reaction Monitoring (H-SRM), which facilitates the quick and efficient analysis of complex samples such as animal tissue. The Thermo Scientific LC-MS/MS solution yielded accuracy and precision values for this method that were well within the guidelines of the FDA for analytical method development and validation.