China has imposed tougher rules for testing animal feeds for melamine, a plastics chemical, in response to a national scandal over contaminated batches of infant milk powder blamed for causing serious illness in thousands of children. The same chemical was involved in a series of pet food recalls in 2007.
Manufacturers of feeds and additives in China have been accused of using melamine as a cheap source of nitrogen to boost the apparent crude protein content of their products. New instructions sent to regional monitoring agencies by the governmental agency for quality surveillance call for an increase in the rate of sampling of feeds and more inspection of consignments meant for export.
