Melamine in White Rabbit Candy
Singapore finds melamine in White Rabbit candies; Chinese dairy products now banned across Asia and Africa
Looks like our earlier warning to not eat or drink anything with dairy content for the time being bears repeating. Singapore has now found traces of melamine in White Rabbit candies, wildly popular throughout Asia. The Straits Times reports:
Singapore’s Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA) said samples of White Rabbit-brand Creamy Candy imported from China were contaminated with melamine, an industrial chemical that can cause kidney stones and lead to kidney failure.
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Authorities on Friday suspended the sale and import of all Chinese milk and dairy products after finding melamine in samples of a Yili-brand yogurt bar and Dutch Lady-brand strawberry milk manufactured in China. The ban includes milk, ice cream, yogurt, chocolate, biscuits and candy, as well as any other products containing milk from China as an ingredient.
'Retailers and importers have been instructed to recall these products and withhold them from sale,' the AVA said in a statement.
'Consumers who have bought the affected products are advised not to consume them.'
This would be the second time in the short history of this blog that the quality of White Rabbit candies has been called into question. In July 2007, we reported that traces of the cancer-causing agent formaldehyde were found in the candies which are produced in Shanghai by the Guan Sheng Yuan Group.
Meanwhile, the melamine scandal continues to widen around the region:
* Hong Kong's Centre for Food Safety has found traces of melamine in Nestle Dairy Farm Pure Milk. And in the first reported case outside of the mainland, a three-and-a-half-year-old Hong Kong toddler has been diagnosed with kidney stones after being fed with Yili milk daily for the past 15 months.
* Public health officials in Taiwan have announced their findings of melamine-tainted instant coffee, milk tea and chicken-and-corn soup. The import of all such products into Taiwan has been banned with immediate effect, including instant coffee made by the popular Taiwan brand Mr Brown in China.
* In Japan, Marudai Food Co. issued a voluntary recall of five China-made products, saying they may contain the toxin melamine
* China ally Myanmar has announced it would "seize and destroy imported Chinese baby formula to safeguard against poisoning by the toxic chemical melamine".
* Brunei has ordered a blanket ban on all China-made milk products and dairy items.
* Malaysia has imposed a "level six import ban" on all Chinese dairy products.
* Bangladesh has also started on a crackdown and ban on three brands of Chinese-made milk powder.
* In Africa, Tanzania and Gabon were the first to impose bans on Chinese dairy products and Burundi has just joined them in the ban.
By Kenneth Tan in News
Lotte Koala biscuits and Julie’s crackers and Khong Guan biscuits found to contain melamine
According to Malaysiakini, Singapore found 17 types of biscuits from Malaysia to be tainted with melamine. Two of them are familiar names like Lotte Koala and Julie’s.
Also in the ban is Khong Guan biscuits.
Singapore has discovered toxic chemical melamine in 20 more products from China and Malaysia, taking its total to 33, authorities said.
Three Chinese products and 17 biscuit items from Malaysia were found to contain melamine, the industrial chemical at the centre of a toxic milk scandal which has rocked China’s dairy sector.
The affected items include popular products such as Lotte Koala biscuits and Julie’s crackers, the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority of Singapore (AVA) said in a statement seen on its website on Saturday.
Singapore has discovered toxic chemical melamine in 20 more products from China and Malaysia, taking its total to 33, authorities said.
I have taken the pdf file and made it more user friendly here.
Very disturbing the way the information is scattered and made more difficult to access.
Here is a chart with acceptable levels for melamine in biscuits and cookies and crackers.
Click to enlarge photo.
PUTRAJAYA: Khong Guan and Khian Guan brand biscuits have been found to contain excessive levels of melamine.
Health Minister Datuk Liow Tiong Lai said 18 out of the 47 products produced by the two manufacturers contained more than the permissible level of malamine, which is 2.5mg/kg or 2.5 parts per million (ppm).
He said the manufacturers had been instructed to recall all 18 biscuit products from the market.
“We have also requested that they voluntarily recall the rest of the products (the remaining 29),” he said.




































