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South Korea finds melamine in New Zealand product

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-10-02 16:21

WELLINGTON  -- The South Korean authorities have found trace amounts of melamine in milk products imported from New Zealand that were used in baby formula and banned their import, its food safety agency said on Thursday.

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The Korea Food and Drug Administration said the product, lactoferrin, was produced by Tatua Cooperative Diary Company of New Zealand, Radio New Zealand reported.

South Korea was banning all other products made by the company pending further tests, it said.

No trace of the chemical has been found in 19 baby formula products tested, presumably because the additive makes up less than 0.1 percent of the final product, the agency said.

No comment was immediately available from Tauta, which on Monday had suspended exports of lactoferrin because of the melamine find.

The company was also checking where its product had been exported to and trying to trace the source of the melamine contamination.

Tauta chief executive Paul McGilvary said the New Zealand Food Safety Authority had found fewer than four parts per million of melamine in the Tatua product, and found there was no contamination of the company's milk supply.