Fears that the melamine scandal could still escalate further to include more products has prompted Reading Scientific Services to add a third technique to the tests it can use to detect melamine.
An Elisa (Enzyme linked immunoassay) technique provides an alternative method to detect melamine in a wide range of foods.
The Elisa method is likely to be especially useful in screening raw materials and for confirming the results obtained by other methods.
The melamine scandal, which initially involved baby milk formula, has now extended to other products such as milk and chocolates, and has already claimed four lives in China.
The EU currently requires all items imported from China that contain more than 15 per cent milk as an ingredient, or products where the percentage of milk content cannot be established, to be subject to documentary, identity and physical checks, including laboratory analysis.
If melamine levels are found in excess of 2.5ppm, then those products will need to be destroyed.
