Mothers on the mainland, terrified of their babies becoming the next victims of the baby milk scandal, are turning to Hong Kong for safe food for their infants.

An official at the customs checkpoint in Luohu, which links Shenzhen and Hong Kong, told China Daily yesterday there has been a dramatic rise in the amount of baby formula being brought in from the special administrative region.

"There has been a huge increase in the number of mainlanders coming back from Hong Kong with milk powder," the customs' press officer Wang Jing said.

"Over the Mid-Autumn Festival holiday, people were coming back with an average of two boxes, 12 cans, each, which is twice the average before the scandal."

The usual restrictions on how much baby formula people can carry through have been relaxed, he said.

The new rules will remain in place until people regain their confidence in baby milk manufactured by mainland firms, he said without elaborating.

However, the South China Morning Post yesterday quoted Lau Oi-kwok, chairman of the Hong Kong General Chamber of Pharmacy, as saying mainland buyers will be "restricted to a maximum of three cans at each pharmacy" to ensure there is no shortage of supply for local mothers.

Yang Yimin, who feeds her 10-month-old baby girl formula imported from the Netherlands, said she is worried there may now be shortages of some products and that prices will soar.

"No matter who is responsible for the incident, babies have been hurt and consumer confidence is gone," she said.

Stores on the mainland have already reported that milk brands not included on the scandal blacklist have been selling out quickly, according to local media.

Foreign milk products are also now in demand, media reports said.

Beijing's Legal Evening News reported yesterday that based on information from a local Carrefour store, US firm Mead Johnson, which holds a 25 percent share of the Chinese market for milk formula, has increased its prices by an average of 15 percent.

Other foreign brands including Abbot and Nestle, however, said they had no plans to increase prices.

They will also monitor the situation and increase supply, if required, the newspaper said.

Zhang Yongjun, the manager of a Wumart store in Beijing, said: "We will double the amount of imported milk we normally stock to replace the withdrawn brands.

"We have taken 22 tainted brands, about half of our total stock, off our shelves. Anyone who bought them recently, can return them for a refund," he said.

In Shanghai, Wen Yuwen, a press officer with the bureau of industry and commerce, told China Daily yesterday that no tainted products had been found in stores they inspected.

All stores were ordered to remove the affected products from their shelves by yesterday morning, she said.

(China Daily September 18, 2008)