18 September - A fourth person has died as a result of melamine tainted baby milk in China, a government website announced today.
The death occurred in the north-western region of Bazhou, although no other details were given by the regional government website.
The latest announcement comes after a frantic 48 hours in which the scandal that has so far sickened over 6,000 people has become a world-wide talking point.
Yesterday, the problem widened as melamine was reportedly discovered in yoghurt ice-cream bar in Hong Kong made by Inner Mongolia Yili Industrial Group. The finding has heightened concerns the contamination may be more widespread than initially thought.
Joerg Wuttke, president of the European Chamber of Commerce in China said : ``There should be more and reliable testing laboratories established where you can check these products. This is a severe weakness.''
In South Korea, the food protection agency said it had launched a probe into whether poisonous chemicals were in other processed food shipped from China – including biscuits, sources reported.
In a further dramatic development, police in China arrested the sacked head of the Sanlu Group, the firm at the heart of the scandal. Tian Wenhua was detained under laws governing the sale and production of harmful food products. Also, the mayor of Shijiazhuang, where Sanlu is based, has a been sacked over the food safety crisis.