India bans chocolate imports from China: Report

NEW DELHI: India has banned imports of chocolates and chocolate products from China due to fears they might be contaminated with the industrial chemical melamine, a report said on Monday.

India prohibited imports of Chinese milk and milk products last September and the ban now has been extended to chocolate and chocolate products, Commerce Minister Anand Sharma told parliament, according to the Press Trust of India.

Sharma said international food standards were being "rigidly" adhered to while importing food products from China and other countries.

More than 20 Chinese dairy makers were found last year to have been selling melamine-tainted milk products that caused the deaths of six infants in China and sickened nearly 300,000.

Melamine is a chemical normally used to make plastics but it emerged that it had been routinely mixed into Chinese milk and dairy products to give them the impression of having higher protein content.

The scandal quickly became a global problem with Chinese dairy products around the world recalled or banned after they were found to be tainted with the chemical. However no melamine-related deaths have been reported overseas.

The Indian commerce department was not immediately able to respond to the PTI report.

India has been cracking down in recent months on Chinese imports, stoking trade tensions between the world's two biggest emerging economies.

In January it banned imports of Chinese toys, citing safety fears.

New Delhi lifted the ban two months later, but imposed strict product safety guarantees requirements.

Sharma told parliament Monday that China had twice complained about the Indian toy import restrictions to the World Trade Organisation, most recently in June.

Sharma said Chinese officials told the WTO Technical Barriers to Trade Committee that India's rules on toy imports from China were discriminatory.

But Sharma said the Indian toy regulations complied with WTO rules.

"Only those toys that meet international standards are being allowed to be imported to India," Sharma said.

China's toy industry has come under close scrutiny since millions of goods were recalled globally last year amid fears they were made with toxic lead paints or had design flaws.