China finds melamine in 31 milk powder products: govt
Agence France-Presse | 10/01/2008 12:10 PM
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BEIJING - China has found the toxic industrial chemical melamine in 31 milk powder products, the government said Wednesday, announcing the results of a sweeping national check.
This represents 11.7 percent of a total of 265 products covered by the investigation, said the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, the nation's top product safety watchdog.
All products had been made before September 14, the agency said in a statement on its website, adding that products made after that date were safe.
The products came from 20 different companies, including Sanlu Group, whose tainted milk powder triggered the crisis, as well as several of its partner enterprises, it said.
The product quality agency said it had checked milk powder from a total of 154 companies, representing more than 70 percent of the entire market.
Melamine is an industrial chemical used for making plastic, but when added to watered-down milk, it makes it appear to be richer in protein.
The chemical has been blamed for the deaths of four children and for sickening of 53,000 in one of China's worst product safety scandals ever.
