Society

Melamine tainted milk re-emerges in NW China plant

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-07-09 10:41

BEIJING - Food safety authorities have seized 64 tonnes of raw dairy materials contaminated with the toxic chemical, melamine, in a dairy plant in northwest China'a Qinghai province, the provincial quality watchdog said.

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Tests of samples of the milk powder showed up to 500 times the maximum allowed level of the chemical, said the quality watchdog in Gansu province, where the contaminated milk powder was first discovered.

Police traced the source of the milk powder to Dongyuan Dairy Factory, in Minhe County in neighboring Qinghai province.

Another 12 tonnes of finished milk powder products, also tainted, were also seized.

Some milk producers have added the industrial chemical to milk products to fool protein content tests. The practice caused the deaths of at least six Chinese babies in 2008 and left another 300,000 infants ill.