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Tainted eggs investigated, food security concerns mount

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-10-29 19:25

HANGZHOU -- An eastern Chinese city is recalling a brand of eggs after discovering it is contaminated with melamine, the same chemical blamed for sickening tens of thousands of babies throughout the country in a milk powder scandal.

The bureau of quality and technical supervision of Hangzhou, capital of Zhejiang Province, said on Wednesday, eggs with the Ciyunxiang brand were unsafe to eat.

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It is issuing a recall of all Ciyunxiang eggs in the city. A countrywide recall has not been announced.

The number of eggs within the contaminated batch is unknown. Phone calls to the company, named Green Living Beings Development Center in Changzhi, Shanxi Province, were not answered.

Since Monday, the Hangzhou bureau has tested 27 brands of eggs, being sold by various companies, in the city. The batch of Ciyunxiang eggs contained 3.5 mg of melamine in every kg.

Eggs from the other brands were deemed safe. Green Living Beings Development Center's other products on the market, including duck and quail eggs were melamine free, the bureau added.

So far, there have been no reports that anyone in Hangzhou has been sickened by eating the contaminated eggs.

People urged the city's bureau of quality and technical supervision to conduct it's own tests of all eggs after local media reported that eggs produced by Hanovo Foods Co. Ltd. in Dalian, Liaoning Province, were found by Hong Kong authorities to contain melamine, an official of the Hangzhou bureau said.

The Hanovo eggs on the Hong Kong market contained 4.7 ppm (part per million) of melamine, above Hong Kong's legal limit in food which is 2.5 ppm.

Hong Kong's Center for Food Safety said a 3-year-old kid could become sick if he/she ate 12 Hanovo's eggs per day.

Melamine is a chemical used to make plastics. It was found in dairy products including baby formula made in China. About 54,000 babies became ill and at least three died as a result of drinking melamine-tainted products in the past two months.

The Dalian city government said Wednesday morning that an investigation of Hanovo's contaminated eggs was under way. It vowed severe punishment for those found responsible.

The food scare has already spread to many parts of China, including the capital Beijing.

Eggs sales dropped by at least 10 percent on Tuesday in the Xinfadi Wholesale Market, a major distribution center in the capital.

A market official said, "The influence was obvious."

Beijing newspapers reported that some supermarkets had removed eggs produced by Hanovo from shelves.

So far, no such widespread action has been taken with Ciyunxiang eggs.