Health risks are small even if melamine has entered food chain, says safety chief

Centre for Food Safety controller Constance Chan Hon-yee yesterday dismissed fears of serious health hazards despite the discovery of melamine in eggs, as the centre prepared to check if other major food products were contaminated.

'At present, there is no research on melamine in eggs. But there are some overseas studies showing that the health impact is small even when melamine enters the food chain,' Dr Chan said in an RTHK interview.

She added that her centre would step up tests on eggs this week and would extend them to chicken meat, pork, beef and fish early next week. 'There is a possibility that if animal feed is contaminated, meat may also have a problem,' she said.

Peter Wong Chun-kow, president of the Hong Kong branch of the World Poultry Science Association, said he suspected that some unscrupulous suppliers might have added the chemical to feed to artificially raise protein levels.

The centre found excessive melamine levels in a sample from a pack of half a dozen Select Fresh Brown Eggs (extra large) sold by ParknShop. The eggs were from the Hanwei Group in Dalian .

Chan King-ming, a professor at Chinese University's department of biochemistry, urged the government to do a general test on all food imported from the mainland.

'At first it was milk, now it is eggs. We simply do not know how widespread the problem is. And if we do not know how widespread it is, we cannot work out a meaningful strategy to tackle the issue,' he said.