Melamine found in Chinese-made chocolates

HONG KONG (AP)—One of the world’s largest chocolate makers, Britain’s Cadbury, has become the latest victim of China’s tainted milk scandal, ordering a recall of its Chinese-made products after questionable findings in tests.
Two U.S. food makers, meanwhile, were investigating Indonesian claims that high traces of the industrial chemical melamine had been found in Chinese-made Oreos, M&Ms and Snickers, but stressed Monday the same goods had tested negative in other Asian countries.
The milk scandal erupted earlier this month when China’s public learned that melamine had been found in milk powder and was linked to kidney stones in children. Contamination has since turned up in liquid milk, yogurt and other products made with milk.
Four deaths have been blamed on the bad milk and some 54,000 children have developed kidney stones or other illnesses after drinking tainted baby formula.
A Cadbury spokesman said Monday preliminary test results showed traces of melamine in chocolates produced at the company’s factory in Beijing, but said it was not yet known how much of the chemical was in them.
“These are preliminary findings from tests. And it’s too early to say where the source was or the extent of it,” the spokesman said, declining to be named because of company policy.
The British manufacturer said it recalled 11 types of chocolate made at the Beijing factory. The recalled chocolates are distributed in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Australia, Nauru and Christmas Island, the company said in a statement.
It added, however, that Cadbury factories outside of China don’t use Chinese dairy products and that all its dairy suppliers have been cleared by government milk testing. It did not say what governments.
Experts say some amount of melamine, which is used to make plastics, may be transferred from the environment during food processing.
Ingesting a small amount of the chemical poses no danger, but health experts say melamine can cause kidney stones and lead to kidney failure. Infants are particularly vulnerable.
Meanwhile, Indonesia’s Food and Drug Monitoring Agency said a dozen products distributed nationwide, in-cluding M&Ms, Oreos and Snickers repeatedly tested positive for melamine last week.