Saturday Sep 13, 2008 (foodconsumer.org) -- The China central government on Sep 13 told reporters at a conference that cases of kidney stones in infants reported in Gansu and Jiangsu provinces are associated with consumption of the Sanlu brand of infant formula.

The Health Ministry has dispatched a team to the city of ShiJIaZhuan where Sanlu, one of largest dairy producers in the countries, is based, to investigate the case.

It has become clear that the major cause for kidney diseases in infants was due to consumption of infant formula contaminated with a chemical called melamine.

Melamine is a non-food ingredient and China prohibits its use as a food additive. The chemical was added by criminals who want to increase the reading of protein content in the product, health officials said.

Starting in March, Sanlu received complaints of kidney stone cases and the company conducted its own investigation into the complaints. After learning about the contamination, Sanlu recalled some of the product from the market, but it did not report the problem to the government. Because of this, the company should take a big responsibility, officials said.

In the U.S., The FDA issued a safety advisory on Friday to warn consumers not to use infant formula made in China due to the concern about the melamine contamination.

FDA said in its advisory that no Chinese manufacturers has met the requirements to sell their products in the country, but some companies may have imported infant formula and sold it on the markets that serve the Asian community.