Wal-Mart pulls eggs from China stores over fears of wider melamine problem

The announcement by the U.S. retail giant came after authorities in Hong Kong said eggs from the same Chinese producer had been found to contain melamine, the chemical at the heart of a scandal in China over contaminated milk.

“Over the past few days, we pulled this brand of eggs off shelves in all our outlets in China,” Wal-Mart spokeswoman Mu Mingming told AFP. Wal-Mart’s move was the first major recall of eggs in mainland China over melamine fears, but Mu emphasized this was a precautionary measure and that the products from the Hanwei group had not yet been found to be contaminated.

Most other major supermarket chains in China, including France’s Carrefour, said they had issued no such recall.

Four babies died of kidney failure and 53,000 fell ill in China this year after drinking milk or consuming dairy products laced with melamine.

The chemical was apparently mixed into watered-down milk to give it the appearance of having higher protein levels.

The scandal, which erupted last month, has led to a spate of recalls and bans on import of Chinese dairy products around the world.

The revelation in Hong Kong that melamine was also in eggs has led to questions over whether the chemical, which is normally used to make plastics, had been mixed into livestock feed and contaminated China’s wider food chain.

Zhang Zhongjun, program officer with the U.N. Food and Agricultural Organization in China, said the discovery of melamine in eggs could mean the chemical was present in a wide range of foods such as farm-raised meats and fish.

Zhang told AFP China’s agriculture ministry was investigating the possibility that melamine had been mixed into farming feed.

“But we do not know the details of the investigation... we want them to immediately report to U.S. the results of their findings,” Zhang said.

“If the feed is found to be contaminated, then there is the possibility (that pork, chicken, fish and beef could also be contaminated).”

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