Beijing, Sept 17 - China said on Wednesday a third infant had died from drinking milk contaminated with toxic melamine and 6,244 infants were sick as four officials were sacked amid a widening scandal.
The number of infants diagnosed with "acute kidney failure" had risen to 158, Health Minister Chen Zhu told a news conference carried live on state television.
Four city officials and a company boss have been sacked in the health scare which has seen thousands of parents in southern China flood into Hong Kong to buy foreign-made milk powder.
China has been beset by scandals about toxic and unsafe food and other products in recent years. In 2004, at least 13 babies died after drinking fake milk powder that had no nutritional value.
Facing alarm at the latest food safety scandal, the government sacked four officials in Shijiazhuang, capital of Hebei province in north China and base of the Sanlu Group, the dairy company first linked to the toxic milk.
The sackings included the vice mayor in charge of agriculture, Zhang Fawang, and the director of the city's food and drug watchdog, Zhang Yi, as well as chief officials for animal husbandry and quality inspection.
The chairwoman and general manager of Sanlu, Tian Wenhua, was also dismissed from what has been China's biggest seller of infant milk powder.
But with other big dairy companies found to have also used milk carrying melamine, the widespread anger over the poisonings may be far from dying down.
The results of a government-led probe announced on Tuesday showed that out of 109 dairy producers checked, 22 had been found to have produced batches of milk contaminated with the compound.
Chinese officials last week ordered a nationwide check of all baby milk powder makers after Sanlu's problems began to emerge. The offending companies include Beijing Olympics sponsor Inner Mongolia Yili Industrial Group (600887.SS: Quote, Profile, Research) and Hong Kong-listed Mengniu Dairy (2319.HK: Quote, Profile, Research),, state television news reported.
Melamine, used to make plastic and other industrial products, is rich in nitrogen, an element often used to measure protein levels, and so can be used to disguise diluted milk.
China is the world's second biggest market for baby milk powder, and Sanlu has been the top-selling company in the sector for 15 years, with 18.3 percent of sales in 2007. It is 43 percent owned by New Zealand dairy giant Fonterra.
Sanlu last week halted production and announced a big product recall. But local Chinese officials acted only after the New Zealand government contacted Beijing, New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark said on Monday.
China's quality watchdog said two milk producers, Guangdong Yashili Group and Qingdao Suncare Co Ltd, had exported milk formula to Yemen, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Gabon and Burundi and said both companies were recalling their exports.
The watchdog head, Li Changjiang, did not specify if the powder was tainted.