December 15, 2008
China finds two percent of animal feed tainted with melamine
After examining 22,700 batches of animal feed in China, only 2.39 percent were found with excessive melamine content, the National Feed Office (NFO) said on Saturday (Dec 13).
The office started its investigations when eggs shipped from China to Hong Kong were found with melamine in October.
Speaking at an annual meeting on the China's feed additives held in the southern city over the weekend, NFO director Wang Xiaohong said 27 cases have been transferred to the police for further investigation, after detecting chemical substance in animal feed.
China began investigating melamine in feed in early 2007 and banned its use in June on the same year, after wheat gluten for pet food exported to the US was found with excessive melamine content.
Official statistics indicate that China is the largest feed and feed additive exporter and its output is estimated to be 131 million tonnes in 2008.
He said NFO was working on amending the 1999 regulation on the management of feed and feed additives.
He also said the amendment is almost complete and hopes the new version of the regulation will be released in January before the Spring Festival.
NFO said melamine content higher than 2 parts per million is considered excessive.