Melamine-tainted milk found in Cadbury chocolates in China

BEIJING — China's tainted-milk scandal, which has led to bans or recalls in 16 countries and raised fresh concerns about the made-in-China label, spread Monday to big-name Western brands as British candy-maker Cadbury recalled its Chinese-made chocolate.

The 11 items, sold in parts of Asia and the Pacific, were recalled after preliminary tests showed melamine in Cadbury chocolates produced at the candy maker's Beijing factory, the company said.

Cadbury's chocolates sold in the United States were not affected, said a spokesman for Hershey's, Cadbury's sole U.S. distributor.

In Indonesia, Kraft Foods and Mars also said they would suspend sales of Chinese-made Oreos, M&Ms and Snickers in that country. The sweets were among a dozen allegedly tainted products that tested positive for high levels of melamine last week, according to Indonesia's Food and Drug Monitoring Agency.

Both U.S. food makers said they were mystified by the Indonesian test results, which reportedly found high levels of melamine.

Baby formula and other dairy products in China laced with melamine have been blamed for sickening nearly 54,000 children and leading to four infant deaths. The industrial chemical, which is high in nitrogen, is believed to have been added to watered-down milk to mask the resulting protein deficiency and fool quality tests.

Kraft said none of its Oreo products worldwide, including those sold in Indonesia, are made with milk ingredients sourced from China. The Oreo wafer product that tested positive in Indonesia tested negative in Malaysia, Thailand and Korea, a company spokesman said.

Mars said its two Chinese suppliers of milk powder were not among the 22 tainted Chinese companies. Mars' milk powder has tested negative at a lab in Germany, while its candy tested negative in Hong Kong, Korea, Malaysia, Taiwan and Thailand, a spokesman said.

Both U.S. companies have asked for clarification and additional testing from the food-safety agency in Indonesia.

Meanwhile, police in Hebei province arrested 22 people in an underground melamine-distribution network, the state-run New China News Agency said Monday. Hundreds of police raided more than 40 dairy farms and milk stations in the provincial capital of Shijiazhuang and seized more than 485 pounds of melamine.

The government accused the group of operating as a kind of criminal syndicate, producing melamine in underground factories and then marketing it to dairy farms and milking stations in Hebei to adulterate the milk for profit.

Shijiazhuang is home to the Sanlu Dairy, the 50-year-old company that health officials say covered up the problem when complaints first started coming in from parents of sick children last December.

Local doctors also issued warnings that went unheeded until a journalist posted Sanlu's name online at a Chinese social portal Sept. 11.

Since then, Chinese authorities have fired several municipal and provincial officials and forced the resignation of the head of its General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine.

Premier Wen Jiabao has apologized for the tainted-milk scandal.

Information from The New York Times is included.