Crackdown on tainted tableware

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.