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BEIJING: China attempted on Sunday to contain the fallout from the tainted milk scandal, announcing a new survey of dairy products showed no traces of melamine and promising to subsidise farmers hit by the scare.
The latest test of more than 600 batches of liquid milk from 27 cities across China showed they were free of melamine, the industrial chemical at the centre of the dairy scare, the Beijing Morning Post reported.
Products made by 75 brands were sampled including prominent ones such as Yili, Mengniu and Bright Dairy, the paper said, citing the nation's product safety watchdog.
It was the sixth round of tests in China since the milk scare broke last month, according to the watchdog, the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine.
Melamine, which has been detected in a range of China-made milk products, is blamed for the deaths of four Chinese children and for sickening 53,000.
The chemical is used to make plastics but when mixed with watered-down milk, it makes it appear richer in protein than it actually is.
Authorities suspect the contamination may have occurred at thousands of milk collection stations scattered across the country, as they are relatively new players in the dairy business and have not been subject to full supervision.
Since the scandal erupted and spread around the world, the agriculture ministry has dispatched 152,000 officials and investigated nearly 19,000 milk collection stations, the People's Daily reported Sunday.
In northern Hebei province, officials had recalled 451 tonnes of milk powder from Sanlu Group, the company whose tainted baby formula triggered the crisis, and destroyed 300 tonnes, the Beijing Evening News said Sunday.
Meanwhile, the agriculture ministry said on its website late Saturday it was supervising a campaign to subsidise dairy farmers badly hit by the crisis.
Farmers had been dumping raw milk as the scandal sent demand plummeting, the ministry said.
"On the one hand we must crack down on illegal behaviour but on the other hand we must protect the interests of the dairy sector," it said in a statement.
"We must do our best to minimise the dumping of milk and we must resolutely prevent the killing of cows."
The ministry said it had achieved some success in restoring consumer confidence, citing 14 local governments that had come up with policies to stabilise the dairy industry.
It mentioned Hebei province, which had earmarked 316 million yuan (46 million dollars) in subsidies, paying farmers 200 yuan for each cow.
While China was seeking to repair the damage at home, the wave of recalls and warnings rolled on abroad.
In Hong Kong, the Centre for Food Safety said on Sunday that two types of chocolate from British sweet maker Cadbury were found to contain dangerous amounts of melamine.
In one of the products, Cadbury's Dairy Milk Hazelnut Chocolate sold in bulk packs, the melamine level was more than 22 times the legal limit, the centre said in a statement.
Authorities in Myanmar urged people not to consume Chinese milk and dairy products after 16 tonnes of Chinese baby formula tainted with melamine was destroyed, the state newspaper New Light of Myanmar reported Sunday.
Guyana pulled Chinese dairy products off the market on Saturday, while South Korea ordered Mars and Nestle to withdraw three products after melamine was detected in snacks made in China by the multinationals.
A fourth Chinese milk product found to contain melamine was withdrawn from sale in Australia, Food Standards Australia New Zealand said in a statement.
Australia has already banned China's creamy White Rabbit chocolates, and a Japanese importer has also begun recalling another brand of Chinese chocolate suspected of being contaminated.
The European Union recently banned all imports on Chinese milk-related products for children such as biscuits and chocolate on top of a long-standing embargo on Chinese dairy products like milk and yoghurt. - AFP/de
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