BEIJING, Sept. 18 (Xinhua) -- Most liquid milk on the market did not contain melamine and was safe to drink, Chinese quality watchdog said on Thursday following a nationwide special check on the chemical.

    The chemical was first found in a top powder milk brand, Sanlu, earlier this month that caused kidney stones and kidney failure among babies.

A supermarket staff registers the returned Sanlu brand milk powders in a supermarket in in Hefei, capital of east China's Anhui Province Sept. 17, 2008. Most liquid milk on the market did not contain melamine and was safe to drink, Chinese quality watchdog said on Thursday following a nationwide special check on the chemical.  (Xinhua Photo) Photo Gallery>>>

    Chinese State Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ), along with 150 state level food testing centers, checked more than 400 liquid milk producers, and found most diary products were safe to drink.

    The 408 liquid milk producers, including Sanyuan and Nestle, were not found containing the chemical.

    However, the test results showed nearly 10 percent of the sample batches tested from Mengniu and Yili, 2 top brands on Chinese diary market, contained 0.8 - 7 and 0.7 - 8.4 milligrams of melamine per kilogram respectively while 6 batches out of 93 from Bright, contained 0.6 to 8.6 milligrams of melamine per kilogram.

    Medical experts said that it would not cause any illness such as kidney stones for an adult who drink less than 2 liters of such milk daily.

    The administration also urged producers to recall all contaminated products, find the source of the problem and punish severely those held responsible.

China's cabinet abolishes regulation on inspection exemptions for food

    BEIJING, Sept. 18 (Xinhua) -- China's State Council, or the cabinet, on Thursday announced the abolishment of regulations on inspection exemptions for food.

    In a circular distributed to ministries and governments at all levels, the cabinet said that it had decided to abolish the regulations relating to quality inspection exemptions for food in a document issued on Dec. 5, 1999.

Quality watchdog cancels inspection exemptions for food producers 

A doctor gives medical examination to a child with kidney diseases at the Gansu Maternity and Child Health Care Hospital in Lanzhou, capital of northwest China's Gansu Province, Sept. 18, 2008. (Xinhua/Liu Quanlong) Photo Gallery>>>

    BEIJING, Sept. 17 (Xinhua) -- In the wake of the contaminated baby milk powder scandal, Chinese quality watchdog on Wednesday cancelled all kinds of national inspection exemptions previously given to food producers.

    "Considering the particular characteristics of food products and the complexity in the cause of food safety problems, and with a view to further enhancing supervision over food producers, ensuring food safety and protecting consumers' interests," said the State Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ) in an explanation of the move. 

China's cabinet orders inspections, reform of dairy industry

    BEIJING, Sept. 17 (Xinhua) -- An executive meeting of the State Council (cabinet), presided over by Premier Wen Jiabao, on Wednesday decided to launch national comprehensive tests of dairy products and reform the dairy industry.

    According to the meeting, the incident involving the tainted Sanlu milk powder reflected chaotic industry conditions, as well as loopholes in the supervision and management of the industry. Full story