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Nestle milk found to contain melamine in Hong Kong

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-09-21 21:58

HONG KONG -- The Center for Food Safety of Hong Kong (CFS) released the latest batch of test results of dairy products on Sunday, a sample of Nestle milk was found to contain melamine.

Results available on Sunday showed that of the 65 samples, including milk, milk beverage, frozen confections, infant formula, milk powder and raw milk, 64 were free of melamine.

A sample of pure milk was found to contain melamine. The product was Nestle Dairy Farm Pure Milk (Catering use only) (1L) and the level of melamine detected was 1.4 ppm.

"Based on the low level detected, normal consumption will not pose major health effects. However, it is not advisable for small children to consume the milk product," a CFS spokesman said.

"We have informed the trade of the test results and asked them to stop selling and to recall the product concerned." he added.

According to the standards of the US Food and Drug Administration, the safety reference value (i.e. tolerable daily intake - TDI) for melamine is 0.63 mg per kg of body weight per day.

The spokesman said it would for a 1-year-old child weighing 7.5 kg to drink around three packs (around 3.38 liters) of the product a day to have exposure reaching the TDI though the milk is usually for catering use.

"Today's results include 11 samples of locally available international brands of infant formula that are not manufactured by the Chinese mainland. Together with the results announced yesterday, a total of 57 samples of this group were tested and found to be free of melamine".

"The CFS has by now more or less completed testing of locally available international brands of infant formula that are not manufactured on the Mainland," the spokesman said.