Melamine tableware tests spark controversy

Source: Xinhua  |   2009-1-19  |     NEWSPAPER EDITION

CHINA'S top quality watchdog has criticized the competence of the International Food Packaging Association to test tableware made from melamine, and said such articles produced by licensed companies were up to standard.

Media reports said some melamine tableware contained ingredients that were poisonous when heated. But the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine said over the weekend that "all melamine tableware made by legal manufacturers are safe to use."

Most media reports on poisonous tableware quoted Hong Kong-registered IFPA and Beijing-based Kaifa Environment Protection Technology Consulting Center.

But the AQSIQ said the institutions are "incompetent and incapable" of conducting tests. Their test samples, inspection procedures and conclusions were not scientific, the AQSIO said.

Melamine was the chemical at the heart of the milk scandal that killed at least six Chinese children and sickened nearly 300,000.