Analysis of Melamine and Its Related Substances inFertilizers

Introduction

Calcium cyanamide is effective as a fertilizer, pesticide, soil amendment, and for many other uses, and it is essential compound for producing high quality vegetables. Recently, high levels of melamine were discovered as a byproduct in some calcium cyanamide hydrate products, pelletized by adding water to calcium cyanamide. Due to the risk of agricultural products absorbing the melamine from the soil, it has been identified as a potential public health risk. For example, if both melamine and its related substance cyanuric acid are ingested at the same time, they can form crystals that can impede kidney function. As a result, the Food Safety and Consumer Affairs Bureau in the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries in Japan issued a notice specifying a 0.4 % provisional maximum allowable concentration of melamine in calcium cyanamide. This article describes an example of pretreating and analyzing melamine and its related substances, namely ammeline, ammelide, and cyanuric acid, in fertilizer, in accordance with the testing methods supervised by the Food and Agricultural Materials Inspection Center (FAMIC) in Japan for fertilizers and other substances (2016, 8.1.c).

January 11, 2017 GMT