Breaking News, World News and Taiwan News.

Updated Monday, September 22, 2008 9:51 am TWN, AFP

Sponsors
▪	Get the best deals for Guangzhou Hotels or choose from more than 10,000 hotels in 499 Chinese cities.
▪	Find great real time deals on China Flights. Book flights to China or China domestic flights 24/7.
▪	Buy china wholesale products from reliable chinese wholesalers on DHgate.com!
▪	Save 75% for all hotels in Shanghai, Beijing and whole China. Lowest rates for Flights in China.

13,000 babies hospitalized by tainted milk

BEIJING/GENEVA -- Almost 13,000 infants in China have been taken to hospital after falling ill from drinking tainted milk powder, the health ministry said Sunday, according to state media.

The ministry said in a briefing on the crisis that the total number of babies admitted to hospital after drinking poisoned formula was now 12,892, according to Xinhua news agency.

Four babies have died after drinking milk powder contaminated with melamine, an industrial chemical, according to government statements, in the latest in a string of health scandals to tarnish Chinese-made goods.

There were 104 cases in which babies showed serious symptoms, said the ministry, and 1,579 babies had been cured and left hospital, Xinhua said.

In Geneva, Swiss food giant Nestle on Sunday said it was “confident” that its products in China were safe, after media reports suggested that its products were laced with a chemical that killed four babies in China.

“Following press reports in Hong Kong earlier today claiming that traces of melamine had been found in a Nestle growing up milk, Nestle is confident that none of its products in China is made from milk adulterated with melamine,” said the group in a statement.

Media reports had claimed that Neslac Gold 1+ might be affected, said Nestle, but it pointed out that the Hong Kong government’s food safety department had declared that the product was safe.

The product was tested by the Hong Kong Standards and Testing Center Ltd. during Sept. 18 to 20, as well as the Food Industry Research and Development in Taiwan on Sept. 16, said the group.

“Neither test detected melamine in the product,” said the Swiss group, which added that it regularly carried out more than 70 different tests on infant formula and other milk products.

In China, four babies have died and more than 6,000 have been made sick by milk powder contaminated with melamine, according to government statements.

One of the most serious health scandals to tarnish Chinese made goods, the melamine scare has spread from milk powder to regular milk, yoghurt and ice cream from some of China’s biggest dairy manufacturers.

Subscribe to The China Post and save 25%. Click here