Chinese Milk-based Products Recalled

The industrial chemical melamine, which is at the heart of the tainted milk scare originating from China, has also been found in imported feed for fish in Korea.

The Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Ministry said yesterday that tests for melamine on 290 imported feed materials conducted by a think tank under the Korea Feed Association found that 68 materials from 16 importers were contaminated by the toxic chemical.

Of the tainted materials, seven were made into feed and distributed to 20 fish farms across the nation.

The ministry immediately banned the use of the questioned feed, ordered fish farms to stop shipping fish raised by the feed, and had the fish tested for melamine.

No melamine, however, was found in 32 tons of processed butter that had been imported from China since February.

The Korea Food and Drug Administration also announced the results of an investigation into 428 foodstuffs from 195 confectionary companies. Two snack products -- Misarang Custard sold by Haitai Confectionery and Food Co. and Milk Rusk imported from Hong Kong -- were found tainted with melamine.

Misarang Custard is made in China under an original equipment manufacturing arrangement, with 100.5 tons having been sold in Korea since January. Five tons of Milk Rusk have been imported by J&J International this year.

The food watchdog said the two products will be pulled from store shelves and destroyed. Also recalled were “Misarang Coconut,” “Danish Butter Cookie” and “Potato Cracker” made by either Haitai or the manufacturer of Milk Rusk.

Haitai said, “Only five percent of Misarang Custard snacks were distributed to domestic stores and the remaining 95 percent are in warehouses. Though Oatwell was made by a different Chinese manufacturer also under OEM, it contains the same milk powder used in Misarang. So we will voluntarily recall 20,000 boxes of Oatwell.”

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