Thailand concerned about Chinese imported milk products

Milk contaminated with melamine has been blamed for killing four Chinese babies and sickening more than 50,000 others arousing questions about the standard of Chinese-made food products made with milk or milk powder. After traces of melamine contamination in milk powder imported from China, Thailand is now testing nearly 100 imports from China for possible melamine contamination.

Manit Arunakoon, deputy secretary-general of Thailand’s Food and Drug Administration, revealed that tests on two different samples of Shuangwa Full Cream Milk Powder found levels of melamine legally acceptable for human consumption. The melamine levels were 0.38 milligrams per kilogram and 0.55 milligrams per kilogram in the powdered milk from Shuangwa Dairy Co. — both below Thailand’s legal limit of 1 milligram per kilogram, the FDA said in a statement.

It has cleared the product for sale in Thailand along with 32 other Chinese-made products that were tested and showed no trace of melamine, including M&Ms, Snickers bars, Oreo wafer sticks and Dove Milk Chocolate Bars, the FDA said.

Thailand has also impounded 80 tons of milk powder from China that is being kept at ports and warehouses around the country, FDA secretary-general Pipat Yingseri said.

“This doesn’t mean that the items are contaminated,” Pipat said. “We just want to make sure that there will not be contamination before releasing it for sale to the public.”

Thailand’s Health Minister Chalerm Yoobamrung warned Wednesday that Thai officials should be careful about what they say concerning possible contaminated products from China, because they could affect trade ties with the Asian giant.

I did not mean that I am afraid of China, but we have to be concerned about our trade ties because Thailand does a lot of business with China,” Chalerm said later in the day.