DAKAR (AFP) — Liberia and Senegal have become the latest African countries to ban Chinese milk products following the tainted milk scandal that left tens of thousands of children ill in the Asian country.
"In September we received reports that these products made lot of victims in China, and that a good quantity has been shipped towards Africa. On October 2 the same report was reiterated," Liberian Minister of Commerce Frederick Nuckeh told state radio on Tuesday.
"Based on this information, we have decided to put a temporary ban on the milk from China until the problem is solved," he added.
The press agency APS reported Tuesday that Senegal has also banned the sale of all milk products from China.
"We will not wait for the milk to arrive in Senegal before reacting," the minister of cattle farming, Oumou Khairy Gueye Seck, was quoted as saying at a press conference Monday.
"Together with the health ministry and the commerce ministry we have signed a ban on the sale of milk products from China," he added.
Both the Liberian and the Senegalese authorities have said the customs authorities on the borders will be extra vigilant to make sure Chinese milk does not enter their countries illegally.
Several African countries have already banned Chinese milk products including Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Gabon, Togo, Benin, Tanzania and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
In China official data says milk powder tainted with the chemical melamine has claimed the lives of four children and made a further 53,000 ill.
Melamine, used to produce plastic, can make watered-down milk appear richer in protein than it really is.
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