The recent pet food contamination incident in North America highlights the need for conclusive, rapid analyses for melamine and its metabolites (ammeline, ammelide, and cyanuric acid) in pet food, animal feed, and tissue samples. As documented in the Washington Post on May 7, 2007, an unknown number of cats and dogs in the U.S. became ill or died from eating certain brands of pet food. This resulted in the recall of millions of pounds pet food.The formation of sharp melamine-cyanuric acid crystals in the kidneys of animals that consumed the tainted pet food was found to be the probable cause of illness, in some cases leading to death. This outbreak has fueled the latest public outcry for more accurate and rapid analytical food safety testing among manufacturers and government regulatory agencies.