Thailand finds smuggled Chinese chocolate tainted with melamine
Posted: 29 October 2008 1317 hrs

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BANGKOK: Thailand's Food and Drug Administration said Wednesday it had found high levels of melamine in chocolate bars smuggled in from China.

In an official statement the agency said tests showed the Orphic brand of chocolate, discovered in a border town market, contained 34.37 milligrams of melamine per kilogram - nearly 14 times the permitted level.

The unlicensed chocolate was discovered in northeastern Mukdahan province, 642 kilometres from Bangkok.

The agency urged consumers not to buy any imported dairy products which have not been FDA-certified.

"The FDA has asked Mukdahan provincial authority to crack down on the selling of illegal chocolate and notified all provincial health authorities not to allow the selling of this chocolate," the statement said.

Four Chinese children died and at least 53,000 were made ill after consuming dairy products laced with melamine, an industrial chemical used in the manufacture of plastics.

The chemical had been added to watered-down milk to make it appear to have a higher protein content.

- AFP/yb