Feed makers added melamine illegally, says Chinese official

Beijing: Animal feed makers deliberately added an industrial chemical to their products, ignoring a year-old government rule meant to protect China's food supply, a government official said.

Inspection teams have descended on feed makers nationwide in a "punishment" campaign to ferret out those found using excessive amounts of the chemical melamine, Agriculture Ministry official Wang Zhicai said in remarks posted on the ministry's website and carried by state media on Saturday.

Among the quarter of a million feed-makers and animal breeding farms inspected, inspectors found more than 500 engaged in illegal or questionable practices, with police further investigating 27 companies, Wang said.

He likened the behaviour of some of the companies to organised crime, calling them "black nests of gangsters".

"Adding melamine to feed is a criminal act," Wang said. His remarks were the latest by a government that is trying to appear responsive to a widening food scandal.