Tainted milk prompts new Chinese standards

BEIJING, Oct. 10 (UPI) -- Chinese officials say they have introduced a new set of quality control standards regarding dairy products because of a scandal over melamine tainted milk.

State Council health officials said the new standards include limiting the presence of hazardous substances in any Chinese dairy products, China's state-run Xinhua news agency said Friday.

"Any non-food chemicals or hazardous substances are prohibited from being added into raw milk in its production, purchase, storage, transport and sales," the officials said.

The new standards that go into effect Thursday also include stricter regulations regarding the breeding of milk-yielding animals and sales of raw milk.

Xinhua said the enhanced regulations come as a growing number of children and other individuals have been hospitalized because of the contaminated products.

The news agency said baby formula containing high levels of the substance melamine has been blamed for killing at least four infants and causing medical problems in more than 53,000 others.