Beijing authorities yesterday ordered all tableware made of melamine resin that did not have the requisite safety certification off shelves, following reports that nearly 80 percent of the products under a recent inspection had been toxic.

National standards require melamine-labeled tableware to be made of melamine resin. Such tableware is considered to be durable and malleable, among other features.

However, inspections by the Beijing-based International Food-Packaging Association and the Beijing Kaifa Environment Protection Consulting Center found substandard tableware that usually contained urea-formaldehyde resins or a similar mixture that included melamine.