White Rabbit, China's most famous brand of candy, remained on mainland store shelves yesterday as its producer said it was unaware of any contamination by the chemical melamine despite a ban by Singapore.
'To date, we have not received any test reports saying White Rabbit candies contain melamine,' a spokeswoman for Shanghai-based food-maker Guan Sheng Yuan Group said.
On Sunday, Singapore said its laboratory testing showed that White Rabbit Creamy Candy contained melamine.
White Rabbit has several flavours, but the creamy candy, containing sweetened condensed milk and whole milk powder, is the original.
The Singapore agency advised consumers not to eat the candy and added it had already issued recalls and banned the import of all mainland dairy goods and products that used milk, such as chocolates, biscuits and sweets. This marks the second time in 14 months that the candy brand, beloved by generations of children with its cartoon rabbit on the package, has been involved in a scare over food safety.
Last July, the Philippines and other countries and regions halted sales of White Rabbit, saying it contained formaldehyde. The company rejected those claims, saying testing had provided no evidence.