Context: Recently, researchers at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru have developed a low-cost device to detect the presence of melamine (adulterate) in milk and dairy products.
About the device

• It is a low-cost, hand-held device to detect the presence of melamine in milk and dairy products.
• Where Melamine is a compound that is used to adulterate milk and dairy products, which can lead to kidney-related diseases and also kidney failure.
• The device is expected to make the process of detecting melamine in water and milk faster.
• The device can also be modified to detect other substances such as lead and mercury.
• Further the presence of melamine in the sample disrupts the synthesis of these copper nanoparticles and causes a reduction in the intensity of fluorescence, which is detected by the proposed fluorometer.
• These copper nanoparticles possess a property called fluorescence in which a material emits light of a different wavelength (colour) when a particular wavelength of light falls on it.
• IISc researchers used the new device to test a range of concentrations of melamine and were able to detect up to 0.1 parts per million (ppm) of melamine in water and milk, which is much lower than the acceptable limit of 1 ppm. “Detection took just four minutes

About Fluorometer

• It is a device used to measure parameters of visible spectrum fluorescence i.e. intensity and wavelength.
• These parameters are used to identify the presence and the amount of specific molecules in a medium. E.g it can be used to detect biomolecules and proteins using the copper nanoparticles.

About Melamine

• Melamine is an organic base chemical most commonly found in the form of white crystals rich in nitrogen.
• It is widely used in plastics, adhesives, countertops, dishware, whiteboards.
• Used as adulterate to increase milk volume, water is added, as a result of this dilution the milk has a lower protein concentration.

Why it is important?

• India is the world’s largest producer and consumer of milk. It can be recalled that food regulator Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) had imposed a ban on all milk and milk products from China in September 2008.
• Further In April 2019, FSSAI had recommended the extension of the ongoing ban till labs at Indian ports are equipped for melamine testing.