HONG KONG - HONG Kong has found the toxic chemical melamine in another Chinese brand of eggs, authorities said on Wednesday, as the food safety scandal continued to spread to China's wider food chain.

The eggs came from an egg farm in Dehui City in China's northeastern Jilin Province and were distributed through a local importer in Cheung Sha Wan Wholesale Food Market, Hong Kong's Centre for Food Safety said in a statement.

'The CFS has asked the importer to stop selling the affected products,' a spokesman for the centre said.

'We have informed the food trade of the test results and asked them to stop selling or using the concerned product. We have also informed the mainland authorities for follow-up.' The centre found 4.7 parts per million (ppm) of the chemical in the egg sample, which exceeded the legal limit in Hong Kong of 2.5 ppm.

The products had been distributed to some bakeries but not to any other retail outlets, the spokesman said, adding that the centre was following up with the bakeries concerned.

The centre said it has tested 307 egg samples and four were found to be unsatisfactory.

China dramatically raised the tally of children sickened by dairy products laced with the industrial chemical to 294,000 in a statement on Monday, and said six babies may have died from drinking toxic milk.

Melamine was added to the dairy products to make the protein content appear higher than it actually was. -- AFP