A Chinese company accused of selling milk powder that has made 6,200 babies ill was warned last month that the milk was contaminated.
New Zealand-based dairy giant Fonterra, who have a 43% stake in the company, said it had urged China's Sanlu Group to recall the tainted powder six weeks before Sanlu took appropriate action.
The milk was contaminated with the industrial chemical, melamine, which is used to make plastics. If melamine is ingested, it can cause kidney stones.
According to reports, at least three babies have died in China as a result of the contaminated milk, which the firm recalled from sale on Thursday. The number of those diagnosed with "acute kidney failure" has now risen to 158.
China's Health Minister, Gao Qiang, said on Saturday that Sanlu "should shoulder major responsibility for this".
He also said that those responsible for the contamination "would be dealt with severely" and 19 arrests have been made so far.
Some of the tainted milk had been sent to Taiwan but none had been sold to other foreign markets, according to the Chinese authorities.
Melamine has been used, in the past, by Chinese suppliers of animal feed to make them appear to have more protein. Last year,
it was linked to the formation of kidney stones and kidney failure in 1,000s of pets in The US.
In 2004, a fake milk powder scandal killed at least 13 babies in China's eastern province of Anhui. At the time, investigators found that the milk given to these babies had no nutritional value, and the scandal resulted in widespread investigations into food safety.
September 2008
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