China discovers eggs tainted with melamine

SHANGHAI, China — Hong Kong food inspectors have found eggs imported from northeast China to be contaminated with high levels of melamine, the toxic industrial additive at the heart of an adulteration scandal over Chinese milk products.

The findings have raised new concerns here that a far wider array of China-produced foods than previously believed could be contaminated by melamine, which already has sickened more than 50,000 children in China and led to at least four deaths.

Scientists in China worry that in addition to adulterated dairy supplies, melamine may have been intentionally added to animal feed in China, tainting chicken and possibly fish and hog feed, which could result in poisonous meat and seafood supplies, according to a report published Sunday in the South China Morning Post.

China is struggling with a milk scandal that has devastated its fast-growing dairy industry and led to a global recall of foods made with Chinese dairy products, including pizza, biscuits, yogurt and other goods. Melamine can cause kidney stones and other ailments.

The Chinese government first reported melamine-tainted dairy products in mid-September.

It accused rogue dairy producers and middlemen of intentionally spiking dairy supplies with melamine to save money, adding the chemical, which is used to produce plastic and fertilizer, as a cheap filler that can artificially inflate protein readings.