Sunday October 5, 2008
(foodconsumer.org) -- Health authorities in Hong Kong said Sunday two
chocolate products made by British confectioner Cadbury are being
recalled due to contamination of high levels of melamine.
The industrial chemical melamine has
recently been found in many Chinese-made dairy products particularly
those intended for consumption by infants. The tainted products have
killed at least four infants and sickened more than 50,000 children
in mainland China.
Cadbury PLC said early it removed
products made at its Beijing plant from Asian stores after its
chocolate was found contaminated with traces of melamine.
Cadbury Asia Pacific said it was
recalling 11 products made at the chocolate factory as precaution
after preliminary tests showed there could be some problems with the
products manufactured in China.
Most of the recalled products were sold
in mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan and one line of products,
Cadbury Eclairs Candy was also sold on the Australian market.
Cadbury was cited by news media as
saying in a statement that its dairy suppliers had been cleared by
the government, but further tests of its Chinese products indicated
some products had been contaminated, Trish Fields, a spokeswoman for
Cadbury Asia Pacific was cited as saying.
Hong Kong's Center for Food Safety said
still on shelves were Cadbury Dairy Milk Cookies Chocolate and
Cadbury Dairy Milk Hazelnut Chocolate that had unacceptable levels of
melamine, according to media reports.
The tested sample of Cadbury Dairy Milk
Hazelnut Chocolate contained 65 parts per million of melamine, nearly
25 times higher than the acceptable limit set by the Hong Kong
government.
In mainland China, government officials
said police have detained six more people involved in producing and
selling the chemical melamine.
The suspects were detained in Hohhot,
capital of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region in north China, the
country's key milk production base, the government said on Sunday in
a statement.
The arrests came after the government
completed an investigation in Yili and Mengniu, China's two major
milk producers based in Inner Mongolia.
The investigation is ongoing, according
to Tian Min, vice secretary general of the municipal government,
cited by Xinhua news agency and a full report is expected for later
next week.
The adulterated milk scandal started
with the Chinese dairy giant Sanlu based in the Hebei Provincial
capital Shijiazhuang in north China.
The tainted products left 13,000
children hospitalized with kidney problems in china.
