Cadbury recalls melamine-tainted chocolates

Cadbury recalled on Monday 11 chocolate products made by its Beijing factory after tests showed they could be contaminated with melamine. It was the first multinational confectionery group to issue a recall linked with the tainted milk scandal in China.

Cadbury had sent its products for testing to a laboratory outside China even though the dairy that supplied its milk was not listed by the Chinese government as selling contaminated milk.

The company said that preliminary results have “raised doubts” over the safety of nearly a dozen chocolate products sold in parts of Asia and the Pacific. Cadbury had also decided to stop production in its Beijing plant while it investigated, a Financial Times report said.

AP said that according to a company official in London, the recalled products which are exported to Australia, Hong Kong and Taiwan, could not have been sold to other countries. The Beijing factory, the official said, only supplies Australia, Taiwan, Nauru, Hong Kong and Christmas Island.

“That factory in Beijing only exports to those markets. It's only a small factory, AP quoted him as saying. Chinese production, the official added, accounts for only 0.5 percent of the company's global sales and the recalled items are “less than that because its only chocolate.”

The recalled products, according to AP, included Cadbury Dark Chocette, Cadbury Eclairs, Cadbury Dairy Milk Chocolate, Cadbury Dairy Milk Hazelnut Chocolate, Cadbury Dairy Milk Cookies Chocolate and Cadbury Hazelnut Praline Chocolate.

The company said it did not know how its products could have been contaminated with melamine, although some experts in Asia said the chemical could be transferred during food processing.

In related news, the European Union announced on Monday a ban on the import of all children's food from China. Brussels said it will also step up testing of all other food imports from China which contain at least 15 percent milk products. Random testing of all other foods which could be affected will also take effect, a UK Press report said.

An EU spokeswoman said that there is no evidence that food which has been imported from China into the region is contaminated.

In the UK, retail giant Tesco has recalled the White Rabbit Creamy Candies upon the advice of the Food Standards Agency. The agency said that the decision to ask retailers to withdraw the Chinese-made candy was a precaution, following reports that the brand could be contaminated with melamine, UK Press said.

The industrial chemical melamine, which is used for making plastics, was added by some suppliers to diluted milk to boost its protein levels. Tens of thousands of children in China have fallen ill after drinking formula made from the tainted milk. The government has so far arrested 22 people.