Feed factory closed over melamine suspicions

Authorities in Shenyang, Liaoning have closed an animal feed processing factory and detained its owner over suspicions that chicken feed was laced with the industrial chemical melamine, AP reported, citing state media. The Mingxing Feed Processing Factory had sold chicken feed to Dalian Hanwei Enterprise Group, China’s largest egg producer. A brand of Hanwei’s eggs sold in Hong Kong was found to contain excessive levels of melamine earlier this month. It is unknown if Mingxing’s feed is sold in other countries. To date, no illnesses have been linked to eating eggs tainted with melamine, but officials say the practice of adding melamine to animal feed is widespread in China’s agriculture industry.