Click to play videoBeijing: Anxious parents around the country are taking their children to hospitals for medical check ups, worrying they may have developed health problems from tainted baby milk powder, which in some cases has been deadly.
With thousands of children already sick, the government is preparing for much worse to come. A third baby has died and many more are sick after drinking baby formula laced with melamine.
"Hospitals have been told to set up dedicated units and prepare beds, medical equipment and personnel," China’s Health Minister, Chen Zhu, says.
Government tests revealed that 22 brands of infant formula were adulterated with an industrial chemical called melamine — normally used to make plastic.
Melamine when mixed with watered-down milk can produce artificially high readings of protein, allowing it to pass inspection.
This highest concentrations of melamine were found in products made by Sanlu — China's biggest maker of baby milk powder and the first to be linked to the scandal.
The company’s president was reportedly detained on Wednesday.
It was in March that parents first reported their children were sick. The first death was in May but it wasn’t until August when anyone looked for melamine.
Officials say it took so long to make the connection because it’s illegal to mix the industrial chemical with food products.
In Hong Kong, melamine was found in China-made frozen yoghurt, following which recall orders were issued in five countries — Bangladesh, Myanmar, Burundi, Gabon and Yemen — which import infant formula from China.
Beijing has ordered inspections of every dairy producer in the country. Apart from that, all dairy products — milk, butter, yoghurt, cream — are being tested for melamine.
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