Hong Kong, Sept 18 - Hong Kong ordered the recall of a Chinese company's products on Thursday after tests found eight out of 30 of its dairy offerings, including milk, ice cream and yoghurt, were contaminated with melamine.
The tests by Hong Kong's food safety watchdog are the first verification by an independent food safety watchdog that the melamine contamination health scandal had now spread to such a large range of other dairy products.
Inner Mongolia Yili Industrial Group Co Ltd is one of several Chinese firms implicated in China's growing milk powder contamination scandal. Milk powder containing melamine has killed four infants in China and made over 6,000 more ill.
The company was a Beijing Olympic Games sponsor and is one of 22 Chinese firms implicated in the scandal.
"We are recalling the Yili products and the importer is also recalling all Yili products from the Yili brand," said Constance Chan, the Controller of Hong Kong's Centre for Food Safety, after the latest round of test results of 30 samples of milk products.
"That would involve milk, milk beverages, yoghurt, ice cream and ice bar," she added. "Eight out of 30 products of Yili company contain melamine."
The announcement by Hong Kong authorities could prove an embarrassment for China, which has so far failed to identify melamine contamination in dairy products other than milk powder.
Hong Kong authorities said they would now systematically test all other China-produced dairy products made by other Chinese brands before deciding if further recalls might be necessary.
"In the next few days, we will test all other mainland Chinese (dairy) products," Chan added. "Any Chinese milk powder no matter where it is made on the mainland, will be tested."
She said the tainted Yili products had come from two production lines but declined to give specifics, only saying all the result data would be passed onto Chinese authorities.