Widespread anger

But with other big dairy companies found to have also used milk carrying melamine, the widespread anger over the poisonings may be far from dying down.

The results of a government-led probe announced last Tuesday showed that out of 109 dairy producers checked, 22 had been found to have produced batches of milk contaminated with the compound.

The infant milk powder produced by most companies in China was safe according to a nationwide check results following the Sanlu baby formula scam, says the State Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine.

The quality watchdog says it had tested 491 batches of baby milk powder produced by all 109 companies in the country in a special inspection move. And 69 batches from 22 companies nationwide were found to contain melamine.

The number of companies with melamine-tainted milk accounted for 20.18 percent of the milk powder companies in China. And the number of tainted batches accounted for 14.05 percent of the total batches tested.

The melamine content in the Sanlu brand reached 2,563 mg per kg, the highest among all the samples. In other samples, the range was from 0.09 mg to 619 mg per kg.

Safe powder milk products will continue to be sold on the market to ensure supply, according to the government watchdog.

To ensure safety, the quality inspection bodies have been dispatching supervisors to each baby milk powder company since last Wednesday to oversee the quality of raw materials and production procedures. Every batch of products will be checked.

In the wake of the contaminated baby milk powder scandal, the quality inspection authority last Wednesday canceled all kinds of national inspection exemptions previously given to Chinese food producers.

Sanlu has been ordered to halt production. The Hebei provincial government decided last Tuesday to dispatch four working teams to Sanlu Group for a thorough investigation.

Fonterra knew in August

Sanlu's cooperative partner Fonterra of New Zealand said last week it had been told in August that its Chinese partner was selling contaminated milk now linked to the sickness of more than 6,000 babies, as questions arose over how long the problem had been known.

Chinese media first reported on September 10 that babies had fallen ill after drinking the formula, and Sanlu on September 11 issued a recall of its product made before August 6.

"From the day that we were advised of the product contamination issue in August, Fonterra called for a full public recall of all affected product," the company said in a statement.

(China Daily September 22, 2008)