Melamine scare widens to include eggs

By Yang Lifei  |   2008-10-29  |     ONLINE EDITION

EGGS from Shanxi Province have been found to contain excessive amounts of the industrial chemical melamine in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province.

The products by Shanxi Changzhi Green Biology Development Co were tested to have 3.5 parts per million. The legal limit is 2.5ppm, according to Xinhua news agency.

Hangzhou health watchdogs checked 27 batches of eggs in the city and the tainted eggs were ordered to be removed from shelves, according to the report.

The Center for Food Safety in Hong Kong has found an egg containing melamine from Hubei Province, Xinhua said.

The medium-sized egg from Hubei Jingshan Pengchang Agricultural Product Co was taken from a restaurant. The level of melamine detected was 2.9ppm. It had a production date of October 10 and production batch number 4200/D0701808223. The center has asked the trade to stop selling the products and local people to stop eating the eggs.

Shanghai is planning to include a melamine test as a routine during its monthly checks, the Shanghai Food and Drug Administration said after melamine was discovered in eggs in Hong Kong from China's biggest producer, Hanwei, a Dalian City-based company in Liaoning Province. The melamine was reportedly found at concentrations of 4.7ppm, nearly twice the legal limit. Hanwei said it is investigating.

The check on eggs in Shanghai started yesterday morning and city supermarkets have stopped selling eggs by Hanwei, a local newspaper said today.

Hong Kong consumes about 1.6 billion eggs every year and about 60 percent of these eggs were imported from the Chinese mainland. Hong Kong had decided to test all eggs from the mainland in the next week and further extend the test range to meat and animal offal products from the mainland, according to Hong Kong media reports.