SouthernGal
"Don't retreat...reload"
http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapc...ef=mpstoryview
HONG KONG, China (AP) -- British candy maker Cadbury has recalled 11 types of its Chinese-made chocolate as a precaution, the Hong Kong government said, becoming the latest foreign company affected by China's tainted milk scandal.
A researcher in Wuhan last week checks for melamine in milk samples collected from stores.
Cadbury Asia Pacific told the Hong Kong government's Center for Food Safety the chocolates were made in Cadbury's factory in the Chinese capital Beijing, the Hong Kong government said in a statement.
It was not immediately clear if tests found the industrial chemical melamine in the products.
After-hours calls to Cadbury's media office in Britain went unanswered.
China's recent food safety scandal started with the discovery of melamine in baby milk powder.
Four deaths have been blamed on the bad milk, and some 54,000 children have developed kidney stones or other illnesses after drinking the contaminated baby formula.
Authorities say suppliers might have added melamine, which is rich in nitrogen, to watered-down milk to deceive quality tests for protein.
Meanwhile, two U.S. foodmakers were investigating Indonesian claims Monday that high traces of melamine were found in Oreo wafers, M&Ms and Snickers imported from China.
Indonesia's Food and Drug Monitoring Agency said a dozen allegedly tainted products distributed nationwide, including those popular brands, had repeatedly tested positive last week.
Kraft Foods Inc. and Mars Inc. said they were adhering to a recall order but stressed the same products were cleared of melamine in other Asian countries. They were looking into explanations, including the possibility that the goods could be counterfeit.
The companies said they would conduct their own tests with outside experts.
"We have asked our trade partners and retailers to suspend the sales of our products in accordance to the agency's order," Mars Indonesia spokesman Bondan Ardi told The Associated Press on Monday. Kraft said in a statement it understood the government's measures and will "support their advocacy on behalf of consumers."
"We are trying to understand what methodology was used," Tod Gimbel, Kraft's director of corporate affairs for the Asia Pacific, told the AP by phone from Singapore. "The results are unusually high."
The Indonesian agency did not say how widespread the contamination might be.
Indonesia stepped up testing of Chinese food imports foods after melamine-tainted milk was blamed in the deaths of four infants and sickened more than 54,000 children in China.
HONG KONG, China (AP) -- British candy maker Cadbury has recalled 11 types of its Chinese-made chocolate as a precaution, the Hong Kong government said, becoming the latest foreign company affected by China's tainted milk scandal.
A researcher in Wuhan last week checks for melamine in milk samples collected from stores.
Cadbury Asia Pacific told the Hong Kong government's Center for Food Safety the chocolates were made in Cadbury's factory in the Chinese capital Beijing, the Hong Kong government said in a statement.
It was not immediately clear if tests found the industrial chemical melamine in the products.
After-hours calls to Cadbury's media office in Britain went unanswered.
China's recent food safety scandal started with the discovery of melamine in baby milk powder.
Four deaths have been blamed on the bad milk, and some 54,000 children have developed kidney stones or other illnesses after drinking the contaminated baby formula.
Authorities say suppliers might have added melamine, which is rich in nitrogen, to watered-down milk to deceive quality tests for protein.
Meanwhile, two U.S. foodmakers were investigating Indonesian claims Monday that high traces of melamine were found in Oreo wafers, M&Ms and Snickers imported from China.
Indonesia's Food and Drug Monitoring Agency said a dozen allegedly tainted products distributed nationwide, including those popular brands, had repeatedly tested positive last week.
Kraft Foods Inc. and Mars Inc. said they were adhering to a recall order but stressed the same products were cleared of melamine in other Asian countries. They were looking into explanations, including the possibility that the goods could be counterfeit.
The companies said they would conduct their own tests with outside experts.
"We have asked our trade partners and retailers to suspend the sales of our products in accordance to the agency's order," Mars Indonesia spokesman Bondan Ardi told The Associated Press on Monday. Kraft said in a statement it understood the government's measures and will "support their advocacy on behalf of consumers."
"We are trying to understand what methodology was used," Tod Gimbel, Kraft's director of corporate affairs for the Asia Pacific, told the AP by phone from Singapore. "The results are unusually high."
The Indonesian agency did not say how widespread the contamination might be.
Indonesia stepped up testing of Chinese food imports foods after melamine-tainted milk was blamed in the deaths of four infants and sickened more than 54,000 children in China.
