Hong Kong - Milk products containing melamine, which has killed four babies in China and made 6,000 other babies ill, have been found on sale in Hong Kong, health officials announced Thursday. The industrial chemical was found in eight samples of imported milk products from China tested by Hong Kong's Centre for Food Safety, which tested a total of 30 samples.
All of the milk products were supplied by the Yili Group and have been withdrawn from sale in Hong Kong. There are no reports of affected babies in the city of 6.9 million.
The Yili Group, which makes baby milk formula and other dairy products, is one of two Chinese companies implicated in the growing scandal over melamine-infected products. The other company is Sanlu.
Melamine, a chemical normally used in plastics, was illegally used in products to give watered-down milk the appearance of having high protein levels, Chinese officials said.
Eighteen people have been arrested in connection with the scandal, 12 of them milk dealers suspected of selling contaminated milk, while the other six supplied melamine.
