More eggs found contaminated

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BEIJING — Supermarkets across China pulled eggs off their shelves yesterday as officials indicated that far more of them were contaminated with the toxic chemical melamine than initially reported.

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The problem emerged over the weekend when Hong Kong authorities said eggs from one major Chinese supplier were tainted with melamine, the same chemical that was mixed into China’s milk products and led to the deaths of four babies.

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However, officials and China’s state-controlled press reported yesterday that eggs from other suppliers had also been found to be contaminated with melamine, which can give food the appearance of higher protein levels.

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Against this backdrop, some supermarkets in Beijing, Shanghai and other cities announced they were recalling various brands of eggs, although others appeared unsure what to do with the central government yet to give directives.

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A staff member at the Parkson Shopping Centre’s supermarket in Beijing said eggs from Hanwei, the company that supplied the contaminated ones to Hong Kong that kicked off the scandal, were no longer on sale.

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In Shanghai, a spokeswoman for the Lotus Supermarket chain said all the Kekeda brand of eggs from Hanwei had been removed from all its outlets across the city.

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Meanwhile, the authorities in Hong Kong and the eastern Chinese city of Hangzhou reported eggs contaminated with melamine had been detected in brands other than Hanwei, and that they came from different areas of China.

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The discovery of melamine in eggs has raised concerns that the chemical could be infecting much of China’s food chain.

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Initially, the problem was believed to be isolated to milk and other dairy products.

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The discovery of the chemical in eggs raised concerns that it could be in many other Chinese foods, with the suspicion that it was mixed into livestock feed to also give it the appearance of high protein.

The authorities in Dalian, the Chinese city where Hanwei is based, said yesterday that melamine may have been mixed into chicken feed and led to the contamination of that company’s eggs.

The United Nations Food and Agricltural Organisation in China said on Tuesday that melamine may also be present on other farm-raised foods such as meat and fish.
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