South China's Guangzhou City has banned sale of duck eggs starting from today as Beijing had found more eggs suspected of containing an industrial red dye that increases the risk of cancer, Chinese media reported today.

Duck eggs, whether their yolks are red or yellow, are banned for sale in supermarkets, wholesale markets, shopping malls or restaurants in Guangzhou, capital city of Guangdong Province, according to the city's industrial and commercial bureau.

Traditionally, red-yolk duck eggs are considered more nutritious than yellow-yolk eggs and are usually more expensive, which is why some duck farm owners add the "red drug" to their feed.

Initial test results showed Sudan-IV made up 46.5 percent of the "red drug," reported the Institute of Food Safety under the Chinese Academy of Inspection and Quarantine on Monday.

The Guangdong provincial industrial and commercial administration ordered its subordinate departments to do instant inspections of all the units that were selling red-yolk duck eggs and record their storage situation and providers.

"The eggs suspected of containing Sudan-IV will be seized and destroyed once they are found for sale in the city," said an official from the bureau. "The eggs in storage will also be seized and destroyed."

A department director with Guangzhou's industry and commercial administration, surnamed Wu, said that the ban "is to avoid unnecessary public panic over duck eggs."

Besides the red-yolk duck eggs, the sale and use of other bird eggs with red yolks will be suspended as of today, Xiong Yuanda, director of Guangzhou's institute of health inspection, said yesterday.

"The act is in response to the six other brands of duck eggs that contain cancerous additives newly detected in Beijing," Xiong said.

A vender in a wet market in the city's Zhuhai District told the media that most of the markets in Guangzhou don't purchase duck eggs from Hebei or Hubei provinces as "if so, the eggs wouldn't survive the long journey."

Some duck farm owners in north China's Hebei Province have been arrested and face criminal charges for selling poisonous eggs to Beijing. These eggs have also been found in the country's central Hubei Province.

However, no similar complaints have been reported in Shanghai.

Editor: Yan