According to the Chinese state-run news agency Xinhua, Hong Kong's Centre for Food Safety has asked authorities on the Chinese mainland to examine meat and egg supplies for traces of melamine, after a batch of eggs were found to contain 4.7mg/kg of melamine - nearly twice the tolerated 2.5mg/kg of melamine.

The extra-large "Select Fresh Brown Eggs" were imported from the Hanwei Group in Dalian, in the northeastern Liaoning province and were for sale in the Hong Kong supermarket chain, ParknShop.

Hong Kong authorities have started testing imported eggs, meat and vegetables after it emerged that cyromazine, a derivative of melamine, is widely used in pesticides and animal feed in China.

The Centre for Food Safety said it hoped that testing meat products, including chicken, in China will establish the source of the contamination.

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