On the issue of methods for the identification of melamine in milk and its processed products

Abstract

The development and intensification of the dairy industry currently often leads to the appearance of counterfeit food products in circulation. Component adulteration of milk is widespread in relation to the most valuable protein component. To date, the problem is that the estimation of the amount of protein in milk and its processed products by arbitration methods is based on the determination of nitrogen and is currently imperfect, since when adulterated with nitrogencontaining substances such as melamine, urea gives false inflated values and does not allow for operational input and production control. We have analyzed the regulatory framework, scientific publications of domestic and foreign authors, review materials from open sources over the past 10 years on the issues of falsification of the protein component of milk and its processed products, methods of identification of adulterating components. As a result of the analysis of regulatory documents and scientific literature, it was established that the existing methods approved in regulatory documents are laborious to reproduce, require special equipment, training of personnel to work on this equipment, the use of chemical reagents and auxiliary equipment, often expensive. The modern method of identifying melamine using infrared analyzers will allow to establish its quantitative values with great accuracy in the presence of appropriate calibration dependencies, in many ways accelerate and simplify the procedure for delivery and acceptance of raw milk while maintaining quality and safety indicators at a high level in accordance with regulatory documents.