Hong Kong finds melamine tainted eggs

Eggs tainted with melamine were already detected last month in the same
northeast Chinese city from where contaminated ones sold in Hong Kong
originated, an official said Monday.

The safety inspector from Dalian
city’s food and drug department said tests were carried out on eggs for melamine
in the wake of the scandal about the widespread use of the chemical in Chinese
dairy products.

“Agricultural authorities carried out some checks into
eggs after the (tainted) milk powder incident was disclosed, the official, who
declined to be named, told AFP by phone.

Some eggs were found to be
tainted with melamine, which were then destroyed, he said, without disclosing
the quantity.

“We checked eggs in September and when we checked again in
October, no melamine was found in eggs,” the official said.

Food safety
officials in Dalian held an emergency meeting Monday morning to deal with the
fall-out from the tainted Hong Kong eggs, the Dalian food inspector
said.

Hong Kong’s Centre for Food Safety said it would test samples of all eggs
imported from China starting Monday after melamine was found in a box of eggs
from Dalian in northern China.

Tests showed the eggs contained almost
double the legal limit of the chemical, which is believed to have been in feed
given to the chickens.

Health and food minister York Chow said the
discoveries had heightened concerns about wider contamination in the food chain,
and the centre would start testing meat and egg samples.

‘We will conduct
melamine tests on eggs imported from mainland China in the next four to five
days,’ he said.

More products tested
‘The scope of testing for melamine will also be expanded
to non-dairy products such as meat samples.’

Bio-chemist Chan King-ming
said pork, chicken and fish could also be contaminated if feed were adulterated
with melamine.

ParknShop, the supermarket chain which sold the eggs and
is owned by one of Asia’s richest men, Li Ka-shing, said it had removed eggs
from sale.

The move has prompted concerns that the chemical, which can
cause kidney stones and other renal problems particularly in children, has
contaminated more of the city’s food supply than first thought, the South China
Morning Post said.

A centre spokesman said a three-year-old child would
need to eat 12 of the eggs to exceed the safe daily intake of melamine. An adult
would need to eat 144 eggs.

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