Vietnam bans milk imported from China

HANOI-VIETNAM: Vietnam has temporarily banned milk products from China and stepped up import inspections amid reports that tainted infant formula killed four Chinese babies and sickened tens of thousands.

The Ministry of Health has dispatched two teams of health workers and police to inspect diary products, said the ministry's deputy chief inspector Bui Duc Phong on Thursday.

Inspectors will extensively search store shelves and destroy any tainted milk products from China, the state-run Thanh Nien (Young People) newspaper quoted Vice Minister of Health Cao Minh Quang as saying.

All Chinese milk products will be tested for melamine, an industrial chemical used to make plastics and fertilizer that has been found in formula and other milk products produced by 22 Chinese companies.

There have been no reports of people sickened from tainted milk in Vietnam. Authorities have recalled hundreds of tons of milk imported from China.

Melamine poisoning has been blamed for the deaths of four infants and the illnesses of 53,000 others in China.
Health experts say ingesting a small amount of the chemical poses no danger, but melamine can cause kidney stones and lead to kidney failure. Infants are particularly vulnerable.

More than a dozen countries have banned or recalled Chinese dairy products. Vietnam imports most of its milk and milk products from the United States, Australia and New Zealand.