Chinese baby milk scandal spreads to countries across Asia

The latest victim of the Chinese baby milk scandal appears to be the head of the country's quality watchdog, who has resigned.

According to the state media, Li Changjiang, whose agency is responsible for ensuring that China's food supply chain is safe, has stepped down.

His resignation comes after almost 13,000 Chinese babies have been hospitalised after consuming the tainted baby milk, another 40,000-plus have been treated and at least four children have died with 104 in a serious condition.

The scandal emerged when dozens of babies suffered kidney stones and kidney failure after drinking a popular milk which contained the chemical melamine - it now appears to have spread to more than 20 companies and affected products including fresh milk, yoghurt and ice-cream.

Countries across Asia are checking imported dairy products from China and Brunei, Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong have already banned or recalled a variety of milk products.

Taiwan has banned all mainland dairy products and in Hong Kong, Nestlé, the world's largest food company, has recalled a UHT pure milk product after a local food watchdog discovered samples containing a tiny amount of the chemical melamine.

The Japanese Government has requested that 90,000 companies check whether imports have been contaminated with melamine, and buns made with milk supplied by one of the Chinese companies involved, Yili Industrial Group, have been withdrawn.

In Australia imported Chinese made sweets are being tested for contamination - the lollies, called White Rabbit Creamy Candies, are being analysed in New South Wales and South Australia, following a check of the nation's supermarket shelves for contaminated products.

Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) says it will wait for results before deciding if a recall is necessary and action will be taken if the toxic chemical melamine is found.

FSANZ says they are working with the states and territories' food agencies to check some of the smaller Asian stores - the same sweets have been recalled in Singapore.

Checks are also being carried out in New Zealand where dairy products imported from China are being cleared from the shelves of stores, including the White Rabbit Candy.

Anxious Chinese parents are turning up at hospitals in their droves to have their babies checked and while the government has promised to provide free treatment, many remain concerned about costs and possible long-term complications.

Premier Wen Jiabao has threatened harsh punishment for the culprits and the head of Sanlu, the company at the centre of the scandal, has already been sacked and arrested along with 18 others.

City officials in Shijiazhuang, where Sanlu is based, were also sacked, with questions being raised about knowledge of the problem being concealed until the Beijing Olympics were over.

Melamine is commonly used to make plastics and can artificially boost apparent protein levels in tests on milk which may have been watered down.

China's food watchdog found melamine in nearly 10% of milk and drinking yoghurt samples from three dairy companies, Mengniu, Yili and the Bright group.

Though no illnesses have been reported from melamine in other dairy products, tests on infant formula from other producers also found that while melamine was present in batches from a fifth of China's dairy producers, the levels were far lower than in the case of Sanlu.

But fear has spread rapidly amongst a public struggling to cope with a lack of confidence in China's Government regulators following a series of scandals exposing corruption, bureaucratic inertia and cost-cutting producers, despite government promises to tighten its safety regime.