Mengniu Dairy Executive Director and Chief Financial Officer Yao Tongshan (left) and Chief Administrative Officer Lei Yongsheng drink their products at a press conference to announce the company's interim results in Hong Kong Friday. AP

Forty-six milk-product samples, including 36 from Mengniu, were confirmed melamine-free yesterday, but the government is still planning to restrict through legislation the use of the substance in food.

The Centre for Food Safety announced Friday that 36 dairy-product samples from Mengniu Dairy, the country's largest producer of liquid milk, and 10 from other suppliers, including milk beverages, milk powders, condensed milks and yogurts, were free of melamine.

Secretary for Health and Food York Chow said Mengniu milk products were safe to consume because they passed the tests.

But he advised people to wait to eat products whose tests haven't been concluded.

Although the latest tests found Mengniu milk melamine-free, ParknShop and Wellcome supermarkets stopped selling all Mengniu milk beverages Friday.

Their spokeswomen said this was to protect consumer health.

Mengniu products still remained on the shelves of some supermarkets in Hong Kong Friday. AP

To ensure no melamine-tainted food is on sale in Hong Kong, Chow said the government is going to introduce a law banning food with an unsuitable amount of melamine.

Updating legislators on the progress of milk powder contamination, he said they may require imported dairy products to come with a health certificate.

He noted there might be a 30 to 40 percent shortage in Hong Kong's milk-powder supply, but they will keep in contact with suppliers and the Consumer Council to make sure the price of milk powder remains stable.

He said the government will test all baby milk powder and finish testing other dairy products in the next few days.

He advised people not to eat dairy products and wait for test results.

Legislator Fred Li Wah-ming was concerned that some supermarkets sold dairy products at reduced prices before the test results were announced.

Chow replied that the tainted dairy products were from different dairy farms.

Secretary for Health and Food York Chow Friday briefs legislators on the latest milk-products test results. CNS

The government immediately asked suppliers to stop selling the products once the government found they were contaminated.

"The most important thing is to increase testing of dairy products," he said.

He said that except for a case referred from Macao, so far public hospitals in Hong Kong have not seen cases of babies with renal disease.

Following the tainted milk-powder incidents, the Hospital Authority (HA) planned to set up a designated clinic in the Princess Margaret Hospital for babies with renal diseases after drinking melamine-tainted milk, authority Chairman Anthony Wu said.

Meanwhile, Mengniu's management pledged to compensate all customers found to have been made ill by its products.

"We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience caused. We hope to regain our good brand image," Mengniu Chief Financial Officer Yao Tongshan told reporters at a press conference Friday.

He said 11 samples of the company's liquid-milk products sold on the mainland contained melamine, and the company said it would recall all contaminated products and stop production on related lines.

(HK Edition 09/20/2008 page1)