Kuala Lumpur, Sept 24 - The Malaysian government ordered safety tests on Wednesday on all food imported from China, even as Beijing sought to assure the world its products are safe.
Malaysia's health ministry said it had issued a "level 5" alert on all Chinese food products coming into the country, which means they would be held and tested for safety before being released to the market.
Beijing is battling public alarm and international dismay after close to 13,000 Chinese children crowded hospitals, ill from infant milk formula tainted with melamine, a cheap industrial chemical that can be used to cheat quality checks.
Nitrogen-rich melamine can be added to watered-down milk to fool quality checks, which often use nitrogen levels to measure the amount of protein in milk. The chemical is used in making plastics.
On Wednesday, Australia, Indonesia and the tiny Himalayan country of Bhutan joined the growing list of countries warning about the consumption of China-made milk products or pulling them off the shelves of stores and supermarkets.
Indonesia has temporarily banned imports of dairy products from China, and the Indonesian Food and Drugs Supervisory Agency has instructed all regional offices to pull out Chinese dairy products from stores for investigation.
"We don't want to take any risks, so we will still take safety measures," the head of the Food and Drugs Supervisory Agency, Husniah Rubiana Thamrin, told reporters.
Thamrin said the agency was also raiding stores for products such as yoghurt, ice creams and milk drinks from China, and would punish people who violated the ban.
Bhutan's Agriculture and Food Regulatory Authority asked shops to stop selling all Chinese milk products as a "precautionary measure".
"The ban will be on until BAFRA investigates all milk-based food products from China, including laboratory analysis," a government statement said on Wednesday.
Australia on Wednesday issued fresh warnings for China and nearby nations in the wake of the scandal, advising its citizens overseas to avoid all Chinese-made milk products, unless companies have confirmed their goods are free from contamination.
The country has not received any dairy imports from China since April 2007.
Countries that have banned or recalled Chinese milk products include Japan, Brunei, Singapore, Hong Kong and Taiwan.