Hanwei Group
Chinese egg company
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Hanwei Group (Chinese: 韩伟集团) is a company based in Dalian, China. It is China's biggest producer of eggs.[1] In October 2008, it became embroiled in a scandal involving traces of melamine being found in its eggs.
Overview
History
The company was founded by Han Wei, currently the vice-chairman of Dalian's Federation of Industry and Commerce. He is also a notable party delegate.[1]
2008 Melamine scandal
On 22 October 2008,[3] authorities in Hong Kong removed Hanwei product "Select Fresh Brown Eggs" from shop shelves, as more than twice the legal limit of the plastic melamine was found in them.[4] The eggs contained 4.7 ppm (part per million) of melamine, compared to the government imposed legal limit of 2.5 ppm for melamine in food.[5] It is thought that the eggs became contaminated after the chickens which laid them were fed tainted feed.[3] Melamine is commonly added to food to increase the apparent protein content. The practice is illegal.
On 29 October 2008, board director Han Wei issued a statement saying, "We feel rather shocked and sorry and would like to shoulder all responsibilities and consequences resulting from the incident."[5] He admitted that no explanation for the delay has been given so far, though melamine had been found in the feed back in September.[2] The company was planning to sue the feed producer.[5]