Tests find melamine in frozen yogurt bar in HK
A small amount of the health-threatening chemical melamine has been found in an ice-bar sold in Hong Kong by the mainland's best-selling ice-cream brand - the first indication that the contamination has spread beyond milk powder.
The discovery was made during tests by the Centre for Food Safety on 27 samples including 11 Taiwanese-produced canned drinks and 16 mainland-made dairy products ranging from fresh milk, ice-cream, ice-bars and yogurt.
The centre found 15 parts per million of melamine in a test sample of Yili Natural Choice Yogurt Ice-bar with Real Fruit manufactured by Shanghai Yili AB Foods Co.
'At this level, normal consumption will not pose major health hazards. However, it is advised that small children not eat the product,' a centre spokesman said.
According to US Food and Drug Administration standards the safety reference value - the tolerable daily intake - for melamine is 0.63 mg per kilogram of body weight per day.
This means a child weighing 30kg would risk harm after eating more than 1.25kg, or 11 pieces.
The centre suggested that the contamination could have come from tainted manufacturing containers as the amount was so small.
Inner Mongolian-headquartered Yili, whose products range from milk to frozen confectionery, sold 2.7 billion yuan (HK$3.08 billion) worth of ice cream last year. Its sales revenue has been ranked first for 13 consecutive years.
'We are in a meeting now discussing this subject,' Yili spokesman Li Haifeng said.
Department store Jusco has removed all Yili products from shelves, and supermarket chains Wellcome and Parknshop have recalled Yili's ice-cream and ice-bars but are still selling its other products. Consumers can return or exchange the ice-cream products at their outlets. Eugina, the agent and distributor of Yili's ice-cream products in Hong Kong, did not respond concerning the result yesterday. Its website says it distributes eight types of Yili ice-cream products.
The test did not find any melamine in the canned drinks manufactured by Taiwanese brand Shang Xiao. Its papaya milk and two coffee drinks are suspected to have been manufactured using contaminated Sanlu milk powder and were available in Hong Kong.
Hongkonger Kwan Sau-ling is sending as many food and grocery products as she can to her 19-year-old son who is studying in Guangzhou because she is worried about him eating mainland products.
'I have lost confidence in mainland branded products. I just sent milk powder, paper tissue and even cutlery from Hong Kong to my son,' she said. 'I asked him to avoid mainland products if possible.'
Shenzhen clerk Liu Feng used to have the tainted ice cream twice a week and had the brand's yogurt every morning for a year. But she said she would stop consuming any domestically made dairy products.
The risk
A small amount of melamine has been found in Yili ice-bars
The number of ice-bars a 30kg child would have to eat before risking harm: 11
