China to investigate cases of tainted animal feed

China is investigating 27 cases of animal feed tainted with melamine, the chemical at the center of the country's scandal over contaminated milk powder, a state-run newspaper said Monday.

China has been looking into the practice of adding melamine to animal feed after finding eggs spiked with the industrial chemical in October due to tainted feed, the China Daily said.

China's National Feed Office surveyed 22,700 cases of animal feed, and 2.39 percent were found to contain melamine, the newspaper said.

It decided to transfer 27 cases of those found contaminated to police, the paper said.

China is the largest exporter of feed and feed additives after the U.S., exporting 131 million tons in 2008, the paper said.

Melamine is normally used in plastics but was found added to watered-down milk powder to fool protein tests that measure nitrogen content. Chinese officials say the tainted milk likely caused the death of six babies and sickened hundreds of thousands.

The crisis focused attention on the widespread use of melamine in the country's dairy industry.

The government has promised inspections at every stage of the food chain as a result, with the Agricultural Ministry tasked with drawing up inspection standards for melamine and other toxins in animal feed.

"Melamine is the key illegal additive China is trying to crack down on," Wang Xiaohong, the director of the National Feed Office's feed division, under the Ministry of Agriculture, was quoted as saying by the newspaper.

China first banned the use of melamine in animal feed in June 2007, after wheat gluten used in pet food exported to the U.S. was found with excessive melamine, the newspaper said.