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Singapore suspends sale of Chinese dairy products 20th September 2008

SINGAPORE - Singapore suspended the sale and import of all Chinese dairy products Friday after several items tested positive for a toxic chemical, widening a crisis over tainted food in China.

Singapore's Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority, known as AVA, said tests revealed traces of melamine in samples of a Yili-brand yogurt bar and Dutch Lady-brand strawberry milk manufactured in China. Authorities said they plan to destroy all samples of the two products in Singapore.

Officials also warned local food manufacturers against using milk products from China as ingredients.

"AVA is suspending the import and sale of all milk and milk products from China with immediate effect," the food safety authority said in a statement. "Retailers and importers have been instructed to recall these products."

The Chinese dairy industry thought it had contained the crisis to tainted milk powder that was blamed for four infant deaths and illnesses in 6,200 others.
But about 10 percent of liquid milk samples taken from Mengniu Dairy Group Co. and Yili Industrial Group Co. _ China's two largest dairy producers _ contained melamine, the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine said Friday. Milk from Shanghai-based Bright Dairy also showed contamination.

Melamine is a toxic industrial chemical that caused kidney stones in many of the Chinese babies who drank formula laced with it.