Tainted dairy products still on Chinese market

BEIJING: China's state media say authorities have detained dozens of people and confiscated huge caches of dangerous milk powder in the latest bid to root out melamine-tainted dairy products that killed six children and sickened hundreds of thousands more in 2008.

Launched in July, the crackdown shows China's dairy remains contaminated. Over the past six months, authorities have detained 96 people for violations linked to melamine-tainted milk and confiscated about 2,132 tons of tainted milk powder, the official Xinhua News Agency reported Thursday.

Xinhua said the seized powder wasn't newly manufactured but leftover from 2008 or earlier. Authorities had ordered all melamine-tainted dairy be destroyed, but some people apparently stored it for reselling.