EU bans Chinese milk products for children

Although Chinese dairy products like milk and yoghurt have been long banned from the 27-nation European Union, the bloc decided that consumers needed further protection from products containing milk from China.

"Member States shall prohibit the import into the Community of composite products containing milk or milk products, intended for the particular nutritional use of infants and young children," said a notice published in the EU’s official gazette.

The ban was to take immediate effect.

China is battling a tainted milk scandal which has seen 53,000 children fall ill and four killed by milk laced with melamine, an industrial chemical normally used to make plastics.

When added to milk, the toxic chemical can make it appear richer in protein.

The European Commission also ordered 100 percent testing of imported Chinese products containing more than 15 percent milk powder, and random testing on such products already on the EU market.

It called on EU countries to destroy any imports found to have more than 2.5 milligrams of melamine per kilogram. All high levels of melamine were to be reported to Brussels.

The commission decided safeguard measures were necessary after the European Food Safety Authority concluded that there was a very limited contamination risk for such products exported by China to Europe.

Only children who eat highly-contaminated milk toffee, chocolate or biscuits with a lot of milk powder were at risk and children with a normal level of consumption would not exceed tolerable daily levels, EFSA said.

"Children who consume both such biscuits and chocolate could potentially exceed the (tolerable daily level) by up to more than three times," the food authority added.

It saw no risk of contamination for adults even in worst-case scenarios.

Despite the limited risk of contamination of products consumed in Europe, the scare is fuelling fears and retail giant Tesco said earlier this week it had taken certain Chinese confectioneries off its shelves due to fears over the scandal.

The European Union has banned Chinese products made entirely of milk since 2002 over concerns of insufficient controls in the industry there.

Despite the ban, the European Commission has asked EU nations to be on the lookout for any Chinese milk products entering the bloc, calling on member states to boost border controls.

Prime Minister Wen Jiabao vowed Saturday to ensure the Made in China brand was safe for consumers at home and abroad, as Beijing scrambled to restore confidence after the toxic milk scandal.

Countries around the world have been rushing to ban or restrict Chinese dairy products.

Hong Kong on Friday ordered a recall of two products found to contain melamine, one a brand of Heinz baby food, the other a type of rice cracker.