OPINION> Commentary
'Latent rule' for melamine
(China Daily)
Updated: 2008-10-29 07:50

People fear that melamine may have tainted not only milk and eggs but also meat and seafood, says an article in Guangzhou Daily. The following is an excerpt:

Right after the scandal of toxic dairy products on the Chinese mainland comes the scare of toxic eggs in Hong Kong. Hong Kong authorities announced last weekend that they had found 4.7 parts per million (ppm) of melamine in imported eggs produced by a division of Dalian Hanwei Enterprise Group in northeast China.

The legal limit for melamine in foodstuffs in Hong Kong is 2.5 ppm. Hong Kong has already suspended egg imports from the mainland. Experts warned that the melamine may have come from chicken feed. People are wondering whether eggs supplied on the Chinese mainland are safe. The concerned government departments should answer this question as soon as possible.

It is said that since late September, China's top quality watchdog has stepped up the melamine check on eggs for export. But why had they not found out the toxic eggs in Dalian? Is that because the mainland's checking standards are different from Hong Kong's, or because the mainland's checks are too loose?

Experts' warning about the adulteration of melamine in livestock feed is more alarming than the one about toxic eggs. Melamine is used to make the feed seem higher in protein when tested so that it can have a higher selling price. The same trick had been widely adopted by dairy producers before the scandal was uncovered and it had been deemed a "latent rule" in the dairy industry. And we may fear that this latent rule is also applied in the feed industry.

If what the toxic eggs have revealed is the "latent rule" in the feed industry, the situation will become worse. If so, not only are the eggs tainted with melamine, but also other foods such as pork, chicken and fish have the risk of being tainted. Due to this concern, Hong Kong testers have included meat and seafood products in their testing.

Currently, the draft version of the Food Safety Law is in the process of being reviewed. The toxic eggs remind us that we cannot simply release a standard targeting melamine separately, but should place the usage of melamine in the legislative procedure, banning all illegal usage of melamine.

(China Daily 10/29/2008 page8)