NO MELAMINE CONTAMINATION IN MALAYSIA, SAYS HEALTH MINISTER

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 28 (Bernama) -- There is no case of melamine contamination
in milk and dairy products in the country, despite new cases discovered in
China.

Health Minister Liow Tiong Lai said, this was because the Malaysian
authorities had never issued import permits to the three companies involved in
the melamine scandal in southern China.

"The public need not worry as the government had been monitoring the quality
of food products, both locally-produced and imported, including those from
China," he said in a statement here Wednesday.

Nevertheless, as a precautionary measure, Liow said the ministry had
directed
that milk and dairy products from China undergo Level Four Inspection
(Surveillance) for melamine analysis, beginning Jan 6, through the Food Safety
Information System of Malaysia.

He was commenting on reports in two local English dailies which stated
that the Chinese Government had ordered dairy products sold by the three
companies to be withdrawn from the market after being found to contain melamine.

Liow said, 515 food samples tested last year were found to have been below
the action level for melamine, which was 1mg/kg for infant formula and 2.5mg/kg
for other food products.

The samples comprised various food products from China, including milk,
infant formula, ice-cream, yogurt, soy milk, biscuit, chocolate, flour, fruits
and vegetables.

In 2008, six infants died while thousands of others fell sick in China due
to melamine-contaminated milk.

Melamine is an organic compound often used to produce, among others,
melamine resin, cleaning products, glue and fertilisers and is harmful if
swallowed, inhaled or absorbed through the skin.

Chronic exposure may also cause reproductive damage, kidney stones and other
renal failure.

-- BERNAMA