Products from the Mr. Brown brand in the King Car Food warehouse in Taoyuan, Taiwan. A nondairy creamer made in China, used in the products, was found to be contaminated.
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By DAVID BARBOZA
Published: September 26, 2008
BEIJING — Two weeks after Chinese companies began recalling infant milk formula because of contamination by an industrial chemical, foods tainted with that chemical — melamine — (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/m/melamine/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier ) are turning up in other parts of China and Asia, fanning fears in other parts of the world.
In Hong Kong, Heinz Foods this week recalled its vegetable formula baby cereal after some samples of it tested positive for melamine. In Taiwan, Pizza Hut said it had found cheese packets similarly contaminated. Officials in Macao, a Chinese territory, said Friday that the chemical had turned up in koala-shaped cookies made by a Japanese-owned company. And several African nations moved to ban imports of Chinese dairy products this week.
In the United States, the Food and Drug Administration (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/f/food_and_drug_administration/index.html?inline=nyt-org ) said Friday that some instant coffee and tea drinks, all containing a nondairy creamer made in China, had been recalled for fear of contamination. It is the first recall in the United States growing out of the melamine scare.
The F.D.A. said the King Car Food Industrial Company of Taiwan had called back seven products sold under the Mr. Brown label, mostly sold in stores specializing in Asian foods. The company’s tests in Taiwan had determined that its nondairy creamer, which was made in China, was contaminated by melamine, the F.D.A. said. No contaminated products have actually been found on American shelves.
The F.D.A. also said that it had itself extensively tested milk-based products imported from China into the United States in recent weeks. It said it had found no contamination so far.
King Car Food recently began buying the nondairy creamer from China, where Shandong Duqing Inc. produces it, said Linda Chen, manager for the Sunny Maid Corporation, the importer. She said that as the adulteration scandal unfolded, King Car Food had begun tests of its products and found the nondairy creamer to be contaminated. She said the instant products were not imported in large quantities.
These instances are increasing fears that products from China’s troubled dairy industry could pose health risks worldwide. In China, the government has said that melamine-tainted dairy products have sickened more than 50,000 children.
Exports of food ingredients from China have boomed in recent years. Some health experts say it may take some time to determine whether melamine seeped into food products that incorporated any of those ingredients.
The World Health Organization (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/w/world_health_organization/index.html?inline=nyt-org ) on Friday warned health officials around the world to be alert for dairy products of Chinese origin that could be tainted. Health officials in the United States and Europe have issued similar warnings.
Supermarket shelves in China are still largely empty of domestic dairy brands while the government investigates the safety of the country’s dairy supply.
Another setback hit the Chinese dairy industry on Friday, when one of China’s biggest candy makers said it had halted sales of a popular brand, White Rabbit Creamy Candy, after tests found some candies tainted with melamine.
Many big companies are scrambling to assure customers that their products are safe. Starbucks has replaced fresh milk with soy milk in many of its stores in China. McDonald’s said the ice cream in its restaurants in China was untainted, and Kraft said its Oreo cookies did not contain dairy fillings from China.
Andrew Martin contributed reporting from New York.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/27/world/asia/27recall.html?em
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