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BEIJING: Officials in northeast China said Wednesday they were looking into reports that eggs from a local company were tainted with the toxic chemical melamine, vowing "severe punishment", state media reported.
The government of Dalian, a major port city, said in a notice that contaminated eggs discovered in Hong Kong were produced by a local company on September 6, the Xinhua news agency said.
Xinhua did not name the company, but earlier reports have identified it as the Hanwei Group, one of China's top egg producers.
The discovery of the tainted eggs has led to mounting fears that melamine, which has killed four babies and sickened 53,000, may have contaminated a larger share of China's food supply than previously thought.
So far melamine has been discovered only in dairy products or products containing dairy ingredients.
US retail giant Wal-Mart said Tuesday it had pulled Hanwei's eggs from its shelves in China, emphasising this was a precautionary measure and that products from Hanwei inside the country had not yet been found to be contaminated.
Hong Kong health authorities reported over the weekend that they had found melamine in eggs produced by the Hanwei Group.
"Over the past few days, we pulled this brand of eggs off shelves in all our outlets in China," Wal-Mart spokeswoman Mu Mingming told AFP.
Wal-Mart's move was the first major recall of eggs in mainland China over melamine fears, but Mu emphasised this was a precautionary measure and that the products from the Hanwei group had not yet been found to be contaminated.
Most other major supermarket chains in China, including France's Carrefour, said they had issued no such recall.
Four babies died of kidney failure and 53,000 fell ill in China this year after drinking milk or consuming dairy products laced with melamine.
- AFP/yb
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