Beijing authorities yesterday ordered all tableware made of melamine resin that did not have the requisite safety certification off shelves, following reports that nearly 80 percent of the products under a recent inspection had been toxic.

National standards require melamine-labeled tableware to be made of melamine resin. Such tableware is considered to be durable and malleable, among other features.

However, inspections by the Beijing-based International Food-Packaging Association and the Beijing Kaifa Environment Protection Consulting Center found substandard tableware that usually contained urea-formaldehyde resins or a similar mixture that included melamine.

"There is a chance that the melamine in a piece of tableware could contaminate food if its production was not up to standard, or when products are heated to high temperatures, such as in microwave ovens," Dong Jinshi, deputy director of the association, told State broadcaster China Central Television.

"The secret of the substandard products that sell well in markets lies in its low costs," Dong said yesterday.

The price of melamine resins is about 13,000 yuan ($1,905) a ton, while that of urea-formaldehyde resins was merely 5,000 yuan a ton, Dong said.

The country has nearly 1,000 manufacturers of tableware that use melamine, but only 23 have been licensed, Dong said.

In late November, the association collected samples of melamine-resin tableware made by 15 enterprises from eight Beijing wholesale markets and five supermarket chains, before sending the products for tests.

The General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ), the country's top quality regulator, said on Tuesday it has started testing melamine tableware.

"The administration has always put great emphasis on food and product safety. We are keeping a close eye on this issue and conducting product safety testing," an AQSIQ official was quoted by the Xinhua News Agency as saying.

Ito Yokado official Li Zhiguo told China Daily that self-checks by the supermarket chain proved all tableware sold in its outlets in Beijing had quality safety certification.

"But to be safe, we have still taken bright-colored tableware off shelves. Most tableware remaining on shelves are the white ones," Li said.

The Ministry of Health also said yesterday it will boost its food safety prevention system by focusing on a monitoring network on manufacturing and distribution.

"We will try to eradicate food problems through early detection, early warning and early intervention," said Su Zhi, deputy general director of the ministry's health inspection and supervision bureau.

Food additives and non-food substances would be put high on the authorities' agenda, Su said.

The system will also include a monitoring network on food-borne diseases, blacklists of illegal food additives and a transparent reporting process, he said.

(Xinhua News Agecny, China Daily January 1, 2009)