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Tainted melamine tableware back in Beijing supermarkets

By Meng Jing (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-02-03 07:51

Poisonous ingredients detected from bowls sold in Beijing's chain stores

Tainted melamine tableware has been found in supermarkets in Beijing, an authority from the International Food Packaging Association (IFPA) said yesterday.

The tableware was discovered in Carrefour and Auchan supermarkets as well as several wholesale markets, the association said.

Tainted melamine tableware back in Beijing supermarkets

The bowls and plates are contaminated with urea-formaldehyde resin, a substance that could produce carcinogenic chemicals when heated, said Dong Jinshi, IFPA secretary general.

Dong said the tainted tableware, which is not suitable for food, is sold together with dishes that are suitable for food consumption. He said the similar appearances would likely confuse customers, leading them to purchase unsafe tableware.

In the Carrefour Fangyuan supermarket, hundreds of melamine dishes containing the toxic resin were found on sale alongside tableware approved for use with food.

Labels on the bottom of dishes and bowls indicate whether the items are safe to use with food. Qualified melamine tableware has a label with a QS logo while unsafe products say "container cannot be used as tableware."

However IFPA officials said the use of the word "container" would lead customers to believe the products can also contain food. They also said people seldom check the labels before using dishes.

"They all look same. And the ones made of urea-formaldehyde resin are usually 30 percent cheaper than those made of melamine, so the supermarkets are actually helping the sale of unsafe tableware," Dong told METRO yesterday.

Zhang Caihua, who was shopping for plastic tableware in the supermarket, said she never reads the labels and could not tell the difference between the two types of dishes.

"I want to buy some red bowls for my grandchildren for the New Year. Beautiful colors and low prices are my only concerns. I think the plastic bowls here have good quality because they all have a shiny surface," said Zhang. Carrefour declined to comment on the matter.

Dong said shoppers should always check for the QS label on dishes and read instructions carefully before using them. Only 10 percent of the 1,000 melamine tableware producers in China reach standards set by the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, the head quality supervisor in China, according to an IFPA report.

The supervisor issued a crackdown on unlicensed melamine tableware last year after media reported that 80 percent of melamine dishes sampled from five chain stores and eight wholesale markets contained urea-formaldehyde or other ingredients that were poisonous when heated.