BEIJING (AFP) — China police have arrested 27 people as the probe intensifies into those responsible for the baby milk scandal that has sickened 53,000 children and spread around the world, state media said Tuesday.
The arrests in northern China came as countries recalled more China-made diary products contaminated with the industrial chemical melamine at the heart of the scandal that has tarnished China's reputation aboard.
Anglo-Dutch company Unilever announced it was recalling brands of Lipton milk tea powder in Hong Kong and Macau after testing showed them tainted with melamine which is normally used to make plastics.
Unilever Hong Kong Ltd found melamine in four batches of the powder during its internal testing, the company said in a statement.
Chinese officials have struggled in recent weeks to contain the scandal as a growing range of China-made dairy products have been pulled off shelves across the world.
The 27 arrested are among 36 detained since authorities in Hebei province began investigating Sanlu Group, the company initially at the centre of the scandal, earlier this month.
The probe followed the discovery that melamine had been added to Sanlu baby formula apparently to make watered-down milk appear richer in protein.
Four babies have died in mainland China after drinking milk containing melamine, while another 53,000 have been sickened, many with kidney stones and related problems.
The Xinhua news agency had reported 22 detentions by Monday, and said those arrested were involved in a network that made and sold melamine and added it to milk.
According to police investigations in Hebei, where Sanlu is headquartered, melamine was produced at underground plants and sold to breeding farms and milk purchasing stations, the China Daily reported Tuesday.
The report said Chinese officials, learning that the purchasing stations were among the key links in how the contaminated milk spread, have begun a national campaign to overhaul the system.
A total of 31 provinces have set up special task forces to supervise the purchasing centres and implement more standardised practices, according to the newspaper.
Milk purchasing centres only began operating in recent years, and the government has not yet set up a specific department to supervise them, it said, in explaining how the illegal practices could occur.
The newspaper cited the agriculture ministry as saying melamine was most probably mixed with milk at the stations.
"We will resolutely put an end to the practice of adding melamine to fresh milk," Agriculture Minister Sun Zhengcai said in an interview with the People's Daily, which was posted on the paper's website.
"We will carefully monitor the production, sale and processing of fresh milk," Sun was quoted as saying.
More than a dozen Asian and African countries, plus the 27-member European Union, have taken steps to ban or limit consumption of products containing Chinese dairy.
British sweet maker Cadbury said Monday it had found traces of melamine in chocolates made at its Beijing factory, and ordered a recall of those products in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Australia.
The crisis is among the most serious in a litany of product-safety scandals emerging from China's chaotic and sometimes corrupt manufacturing industries in recent years, as the nation has grown into a global trading power.
Besides the toll in mainland China, five children in Hong Kong, one in Macau, and four people in Taiwan have reportedly developed kidney stones after consuming tainted Chinese products.
South Korea's food watchdog said Tuesday that two more snacks imported from China were contaminated with melamine, bringing the number of tainted brands discovered locally to six.
Singapore authorities also said melamine was discovered in strawberry-flavoured New Sshma Ows Mallow Dippers, and Silang House of Steamed Potato potato and tomato cracker.
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