Shanghai will expand its inspections for the banned additive melamine to all dairy products, quality control authorities said yesterday.

The entire dairy chain - including ice cream, cake and candy - is now being put under a strict monitoring program backed by information transparency, they said.

"The results of every check will be released to the news media," said Zheng Guanghui, vice director of the Bureau of Quality and Technical Supervision. "Our staff is inspecting every batch of products at all 20 local dairy product companies."

"We will release a daily report on the results starting today," Zheng said yesterday.

Since melamine - an industrial chemical that can be used to make diluted milk appear to contain sufficient protein - was discovered in the popular Sanlu-brand baby formula earlier this month, at least four children have died and tens of thousands of infants across China have suffered kidney damage and urinary tract stones.

In Shanghai, 22 children who drank Sanlu formula were reported to have stones in their urinary systems, and up to five are still being treated in local hospitals.

Melamine was also found in two local brands, and Zheng said the bureau is pushing for a complete and speedy recall of those products.

About 96 percent of the tainted formula produced by Shanghai Baoanli Dairy Co Ltd has been recalled, but only 57 percent of the problem products made by Shanghai Panda Dairy Industry Co Ltd have been retrieved.

"Most of its products were sold to small cities in six provinces such as Anhui, Jiangxi and Fujian," Zheng said. "The company has sent eight teams to these markets to conclude the recalls."

Inspections determined that the local companies did not add the banned additive it came from raw dairy material bought from suppliers in Heilongjiang Province.

Shanghai government said its departments took immediate action after the national milk scandal erupted on September 11. All tainted formula and liquid milk have been removed from city store shelves and customer refund programs set up.

Checks at all 119 local cattle farms and 10 cattle feed providers showed the products were free of contamination, and dairy products from city farms passed all recent inspections for melamine, officials said.

Consumers may be showing restored confidence in the country's milk products.

"Our yogurt sales in the Shanghai market dropped by 50 percent at first, but they are gradually climbing," said Guo Benheng, president of Bright Dairy, whose yogurt was found to contain melamine in Beijing and Wuhan.

The latest product to suffer the melamine taint was candy. Singapore recently detected the chemical in White Rabbit candy produced by Shanghai-based Bright Food Group. The Shanghai Entry-Exit Inspection and Quarantine Bureau is investigating export records for the candy in cooperation with the national watchdog.

(Shanghai Daily September 25, 2008)