Ministry vows war on use of melamine

Source: Agencies/Shanghai Daily  |   2008-11-3  |     NEWSPAPER EDITION

CHINA has vowed to wipe out the "dark" trade of adding the chemical melamine to animal feed, with at least one industry expert claiming fake feed is being traded in parts of the country's rural heartlands.

The Ministry of Agriculture announced the drive against illegal melamine use in feed after the chemical was found at above-mandated levels in eggs.

Public alarm has forced egg prices to plummet in local markets. Breeders have slaughtered thousands of now unprofitable chickens.

The egg scare has come on the heels of a wider scandal over milk adulterated with melamine to fool quality checks. Four children have died and many thousands have been hospitalized from its use in baby milk formula. There have been no reports of illness caused by the relatively low levels detected in eggs.

Dark dens

At a meeting on Saturday, agricultural officials vowed to stamp out its illicit use in the food sector.

"Thoroughly trace the sources of melamine, wipe out melamine sales networks and resolutely crush the dark dens making and selling animal feed containing it," the meeting ordered, according to a statement on the Ministry of Agriculture's Website.

"Strike hard against those who illegally add melamine to animal feed," the meeting urged. "There can be no appeasement or concessions."

Inspections on feed makers have been carried out nationwide. The Agriculture Ministry has sent more than 369,000 inspectors to 250,000 feed producers. Inspectors shut down 238 illegal feed makers and investigated 278 illegally operating companies and farms, according to Wang Zhicai, director of the ministry's Husbandry and Livestock Division.

A total of 3,682 tons of substandard feed was confiscated and destroyed, he said.

The melamine-tainted eggs produced by Dalian Hanwei Enterprise Group and found in Hong Kong are a separate case, and using melamine in feed is not widespread in the industry, he added.