Deadly dairy products confiscated

CHINESE officials yesterday found 76 tonnes of milk powder and dairy products laced with a deadly industrial chemical apparently left over from a milk scandal in 2008 that killed six babies and made hundreds of thousands ill.

The discovery shows toxic milk remains a danger despite a crackdown in which dozens of people were arrested and a dairy farmer and milk salesman were executed for producing or selling toxic milk.

State media and food safety experts said the melamine-tainted powder was probably produced in or before 2008 and stockpiled instead of destroyed.

China ordered tens of thousands of tainted milk products burned or buried after more than 300,000 children became ill and at least six died. But the government did not carry out the destruction itself.

"It is crucial to account for the amount that was contaminated back in 2008 and make sure it is being destroyed or disposed of safely," said Dr Peter Ben Embarek, a World Health Organisation senior scientist on food safety based in Beijing. Melamine is added to watered-down milk to make it appear rich in protein in quality tests that measure nitrogen, found in both melamine and protein. Health problems from the chemical include kidney stones and kidney damage.

The official Xinhua News Agency reported that authorities found 64 tons of raw materials for making milk powder and 12 tons of finished powder tainted with melamine at a factory in the far-western province of Qinghai. In a separate case, also in June, authorities seized about 1,000 packets of tainted milk powder in the northeastern province of Jilin, Xinhua said.

A spokesman for the National Food Safety Regulating Work Office said that the owner and two others at the Dongyuan Dairy Factory had been arrested, along with a person accused of supplying milk powder.