The Guangdong government has recalled and banned exports of all eel products apart from live animals after cancer-causing agents were found in eels in Guangxi autonomous region and Fujian province.

Guangdong's agricultural authority said it had not found the chemical, malachite green, in any eel products but had taken the decision as a precaution. The province accounts for 80 per cent of China's eel exports, and trade worth 1 billion yuan a year.

Hong Kong's Food and Environmental Hygiene Department said it would follow up on the recall and give details later. A department spokesman said it had been 'following up the case' since the illegal preservative was found in wide use on the mainland a month ago.