Lydia Buchtmann from Food Standards Australia New Zealand said at this stage it was adopting a cautious approach and would wait and see what levels of melamine have been found so far.

She said consumers need not worry at this stage.

The authority will undertake a risk assessment by setting a safety limit for traces of melamine in food and imported vegetables.

The safety level would be measured against any overseas tests result available, she said.

It would be different to the 2.5 parts per million level set for dairy foods and sweets such as White Rabbit, which measured 180 parts per million.

The move follows reports yesterday that Malaysian authorities have found melamine in Chinese fruit and vegetables.

"We suspect this is just a background level of melamine. You can pick it up from fertilisers or pesticides or even from packaging or processing in very low levels that are not dangerous," Ms Buchtmann said.

The food authority is contacting other overseas regulators to see if they have any testing results available yet on Chinese produce.

If the melamine levels in vegetables prove a concern, the standards authority would look at imports to Australia.

A spokesman for Ballarat food-processing company McCain said its imported items from China include garlic, pears in season and frozen vegetables.

Tony Rasman, a spokesman for McCain Foods said it imported only about 1pc of its vegetables from China and Asia.

Some of the imports included dairy food or sauces.

"We will investigate all our supplies to ensure no melamine is present," the spokesman said.

The company is also running quality control programs in Australia and China.

The jobs of its 600-strong workforce at Ballarat are not under threat as a result of the Chinese melamine problem, he said.