A northeastern Chinese city today vowed severe punishment for those responsible after melamine-tainted eggs turned up in Hong Kong and as parents of sick children faced a brick wall in claims for compensation.
At least four children have died and tens of thousands fallen ill with kidney stones amid the melamine scandal, the latest in a series of health scares to sully the "made in China" label.
Chinese products ranging from chocolate to milk powder have been recalled throughout the world due to contamination fears. Melamine, used in making plastic chairs among other things, is often added to cheat nutrition tests.
Based on preliminary investigations, the eggs in Hong Kong produced by Dalian's Hanwei Group had high levels of the compound, the result of tainted chicken feed, the municipal government of Dalian said on its website.
Hanwei apologised to consumers and distributors yesterday. Its chairman, Han Wei, said the company had never bought melamine, used in making plastic, or added melamine to feed or products.
Han is a member of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, the top political advisory body, and has been a leading advocate of food safety in China.
Hundreds of parents from across the country have filed lawsuits against the Sanlu dairy group, where the scandal first broke in mid-September with tainted baby formula, but none has been admitted by any court so far.
The process is complicated by the difficulty in collecting evidence and signatures of affected families given the political sensitivity of the case, said lawyer Zhou Shifeng.
"The courts will have to take certain social risks, and more importantly they will have to take certain political risks," he told Reuters.
"Nobody can afford any fallout if anything goes wrong. China is still a country that emphasises political stability. The law is sidelined to some extent."
It was not immediately clear how the Hanwei eggs passed tests, if any, in Dalian. Chinese officials this month said the melamine health scare was over.
Hong Kong said it had also detected melamine in a batch of eggs from China's central Hubei province yesterday. Mainland China supplies up to 60 per cent of the eggs consumed in the former British colony.
Wal-Mart Stores pulled Gegeda-brand eggs, which are produced by Hanwei, from its stores in China on yesterday.
Company public relations official Vivi Mou said the move was voluntary and eggs of other brands were still on the shelve.
The retailer would enforce stricter quality and environmental standards for its army of Chinese suppliers and would not tolerate cheating on quality, Wal-Mart's chief executive officer, Lee Scott, said last week.
Reuters