Recalls & Alerts
Melamine found in Cadbury products, 6 more suspects arrested
By Ben Wasserman
Oct 5, 2008 - 3:55:03 PM

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Sunday October 5, 2008 (foodconsumer.org) -- Health authorities in Hong Kong said Sunday two chocolate products made by British confectioner Cadbury are being recalled due to contamination of high levels of melamine.

The industrial chemical melamine has recently been found in many Chinese-made dairy products particularly those intended for consumption by infants. The tainted products have killed at least four infants and sickened more than 50,000 children in mainland China.

Cadbury PLC said early it removed products made at its Beijing plant from Asian stores after its chocolate was found contaminated with traces of melamine.

Cadbury Asia Pacific said it was recalling 11 products made at the chocolate factory as precaution after preliminary tests showed there could be some problems with the products manufactured in China.

Most of the recalled products were sold in mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan and one line of products, Cadbury Eclairs Candy was also sold on the Australian market.

Cadbury was cited by news media as saying in a statement that its dairy suppliers had been cleared by the government, but further tests of its Chinese products indicated some products had been contaminated, Trish Fields, a spokeswoman for Cadbury Asia Pacific was cited as saying.

Hong Kong's Center for Food Safety said still on shelves were Cadbury Dairy Milk Cookies Chocolate and Cadbury Dairy Milk Hazelnut Chocolate that had unacceptable levels of melamine, according to media reports.

The tested sample of Cadbury Dairy Milk Hazelnut Chocolate contained 65 parts per million of melamine, nearly 25 times higher than the acceptable limit set by the Hong Kong government.

In mainland China, government officials said police have detained six more people involved in producing and selling the chemical melamine.

The suspects were detained in Hohhot, capital of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region in north China, the country's key milk production base, the government said on Sunday in a statement.

The arrests came after the government completed an investigation in Yili and Mengniu, China's two major milk producers based in Inner Mongolia.

The investigation is ongoing, according to Tian Min, vice secretary general of the municipal government, cited by Xinhua news agency and a full report is expected for later next week.

The adulterated milk scandal started with the Chinese dairy giant Sanlu based in the Hebei Provincial capital Shijiazhuang in north China.

The tainted products left 13,000 children hospitalized with kidney problems in china.