Abstract:

A rapid HPLC method was developed for the determination of melamine in beef and mutton. Samples were extracted with a mixture of trichloroacetic acid and acetonitrile mixture (3:1，V/V) and cleaned up on a cation exchange solid-phase extraction (SPE) column. The eluate was blown to dryness under nitrogen at 50 ℃ and then dissolved in a mixture of ion-pair buffer and acetonitrle (90:10, V/V). The analysis was carried out using HPLC with UV detector. A good linear relationship was observed for melamine within the range of 0.2－80 μg/mL and the linear correlation coefficient (R2) was 0.9999. The limit of detection was 0.05 mg/kg. For beef, average spike recoveries (6 replicates) at 3 levels ranged from 81.73% to 83.35%, with a relative standard deviation (RSD) from 0.97% to 1.95%. For mutton, average spike recoveries (6 replicates) at 3 levels ranged from 80.95% to 82.95%, with a RSD from 0.70% to 2.32%. The method proved to be rapid, accurate and reliable.

Key words: melamine, beef, mutton, high performance liquid chromatography