South Korean authorities have found trace amounts of melamine in
milk products imported from New Zealand that were used in baby formula
and banned their import, its food safety agency said on Thursday.The
Korea Food and Drug Administration said in a statement that the
product, lactoferrin, was produced by Tatua Cooperative Diary Company
of New Zealand. South Korea was banning all other products made by the
company pending further tests, it said.
No trace of the chemical has been found in 19 baby formula products
tested, presumably because the additive makes up less than 0.1% of the
final product, the agency said.
No comment was immediately available from Tauta, which on Monday had
suspended exports of lactoferrin because of the melamine find. The
company was also checking where its product had been exported to and
trying to trace the source of the melamine contamination.
“There’s quite a lot of sensitivity around melamine even at low
levels,” chief executive Paul McGilvary told the NZ Press Association
at the time.
He said the New Zealand Food Safety Authority had found fewer than
four parts per million of melamine in the Tatua product, and found
there was no contamination of the company’s milk supply.
South Korea has banned the imports of Chinese milk powder and rice
cookies produced in China. It has also recalled tainted products from
store shelves.
A growing list of Chinese milk and milk-related products have been
taken off shelves around the world in recent weeks after they have been
found to be contaminated with the industrial chemical melamine,
sickening tens of thousands and killing four children.
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