Melamine chemical found in Chinese egg powder

(ATTN: UPDATES with more details in para 7; ADDS with new information from para 10)
By Lee Joon-seung
SEOUL, Oct. 22 (Yonhap) -- The South Korean government said Wednesday that it
found minute traces of the industrial chemical melamine in five products
containing Chinese egg powder used to make sauces and seasonings.

The products came from two manufacturers and were part of nine samples collected
over the past few days following revelations that Japan had in similar products
found traces of the chemical, which is known to cause severe kidney problems, the
agriculture ministry said.
Melamine, a nitrogen-based industrial chemical that artificially increases
protein content in dairy products, caused an uproar in China last month after
traces of the toxin were discovered in baby milk formula, leading to the deaths
of several infants and the illness of thousands more.
The chemical is linked to kidney failure in humans if taken in large quantities,
and can be fatal for babies and pets.
"Melamine levels stood at 0.1-4.0 parts per million (ppm) during tests, with the
government taking immediate steps to collect and test all processed egg products
imported from China this year," said Kang Dae-jin, an official from the
ministry's livestock product sanitation team.
South Korean companies imported a total of 621.7 tons of Chinese egg products
from 11 manufacturers this year, which were used mainly in mayonnaise, salad
dressing and various seasonings.
Kang said the two cases found were from a shipment totaling 47.1 tons, and that
of the total, 23.2 tons were held in storage by the local importer, while the
rest had been sold to 14 food processing companies, which have already used 4.7
tons in their products.
"Those products still remaining with the importer have been destroyed, while
efforts are underway to remove food products that used these ingredient from
store shelves," the official said.
The farm ministry, meanwhile, said it has asked the Chinese manufacturers of the
products, Dalian Hanovo Foods Co. and Dalian Greensnow Egg Products Development
Co., to halt exports and called on Chinese health authorities to determine how
melamine first entered into locally produced powdered milk.
Related to the latest melamine discovery, the Korea Food and Drug Administration
(KFDA) said that it is trying to determine how the chemical got into powdered
eggs. Some speculated that the use of cyromazine insecticides at farms may have
been absorbed by the chickens and ducks and were passed into eggs they laid.
Experts, however, said that if normal quantities of pesticides were used, there
is no way that melamine traces can reach 4 ppm.
yonngong@yna.co.kr
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