Research progress on residual toxicityand detection methods of melamine

Melamine is a kind of organic chemical material; however,rich in nitrogen, it has been added in food and feeds, which causes serious harm to the health of human and animals. Melamine has very low acute toxicity, and the lethal median dose (LD50) is 3 100~3 300 mgkg-1. The symptoms for animals in chronic toxicity testinclude occurrence of kidney stone and carcinoma of urinary bladder. Melamine does not metabolize and transform in animals body, but excretes in the forms of protomer or homolog. The paper reviews the toxicity, residue metabolism and detection methods of melamine.