Contaminated milk kills three children in China; 35 sickened

Apr 8, 2011, 7:53 GMT

Beijing - Contaminated milk has killed three children and sickened 35 people in north-west China's Gansu province in the nation's latest food safety scandal, the official Xinhua news agency reported Friday.

The milk was suspected of being contaminated with nitrite, a chemical used to cure meat, the report said, citing the local government and health bureau.

The poisoned 35, mostly children under 14, were being treated in two hospitals in Pingliang. One of them was in critical condition.

Two farms have been sealed off in the wake of the poisonings and their managers were under investigation, Xinhua said.

China's food sector, in particular its dairy industry, has been plagued by contamination and safety scandals in recent years.

In 2008, at least six children died and about 300,000 were sickened after drinking melamine-tainted milk. Milk producers had added the industrial chemical to watered-down raw milk to artificially raise its protein content.

Similarly, in February, reports said leather scraps had been mixed into raw milk to boost its protein-content test results.

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