Melamine is an organic base and a trimer of cyanamide, with a 1, 3,5 -triazine skeleton. Like cyanamide, it contains 66% nitrogen by mass and, if mixed with resins, has fire retardant properties due to its release of nitrogen gas when burned or charred, and has several other industrial uses. Melamine is also a metabolite of cyromazine, a pesticide. It is formed in the body of mammals who have ingested cyromazine. It has been reported that cyromazine can also be converted to melamine in plants. Melamine combines with cyanuric acid to form melamine cyanurate, which has been implicated in the Chinese protein export contaminations Melamine has been detected at high levels in several foods and feeds in many countries. In most of the cases the adulterated foods or its ingredients have been traced to China, thousands of infants in China being affected due to melamine contamination of baby foods. At least four babies have died and around 1 lakh have become sick after consuming powdered milk baby food laced with melamine. According to the reports the milk used to make the baby food was adulterated with melamine to enhance its apparent protein content. Products of dozens of Chinese companies have been reported to contain high levels of melamine. Melamine is an organic base and is only slightly soluble in water. It contains 66 % nitrogen by mass. It has a variety of non-food uses. Some such uses are in making the following products:
· Amino resins and plastics
· Melamine foam, a polymeric cleaning product
· Fabrics
· Glues
· Flame retardants
· Nitrogenous fertilizers
· Melamine derivatives of arsenical drugs – Treatment of African sleeping sickness
(trypanosomiasis)
