The numbers are not the same at lower cost supermarkets, said Wang. The price of foreign baby formula is holding back many middle and low-income families.

A 900-g barrel of Nestle baby formula costs about 178 yuan (26 US dollars). A 400-g bag of Sanlu sold for about 40 yuan. The price dropped to 27 yuan if customers bought it in a 12-bag box.

For Wang Lifang, Sanlu was a credible brand she could afford. Her family earns about 1,100 yuan (161 dollars) per year as farmers.

"Sanlu was already the best I could afford for my daughter," she said.

Now, her two-month-old is at a provincial hospital having her kidneys examined.

"After she started getting sick, I bought fresh milk from a neighbor for her. Here, I don't know what to do."

Parents are left trying many things to get their babies fed. Some use fresh milk, soy milk or even rice soup. Others stopped feeding any products with milk to their children.

"We don't know what is inside the milk powder or milk. Even imported products may not be safe," said Li, a Shijiazhuang citizen.

Others continued feeding their children with what they know.

"The kid needs powdered milk. I'm going to wait for the government to put the market in order and then decide what to feed my son," said Jiang Aihua. "I believe it will not take a very longtime. The government will put it on the right track."

A nationwide inspection found 87 safe milk producers. Among them were several medium and small-sized dairy companies in Hebei. The provincial government is planning to send inspectors into the firms to urge them to produce more milk powder which caters to poorer customers.

"We already found the source of tainted milk. The loophole has been exposed. Once we tighten the supervision, there will be safe domestic powdered milk," said Zhong, a provincial commercial department official.

(Xinhua News Agency September 19, 2008)