SINGAPORE'S Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA) has advised local importers and retailers to remove from the market a China-made dairy product as it could be tainted with a health-threatening chemical.

The AVA yesterday said the 'Yili brand' Natural Choice Yogurt Flavoured Ice Bar with Real Fruit (90ml) should be withheld from sale immediately in Singapore, pending the authority's investigation and tests.

The advisory came after AVA's Hong Kong counterpart, the Hong Kong Centre for Food Safety, issued a press statement on the recall of the product, which was made by Shanghai Yili AB Foods Company.

A sample of the ice bar was found to contain a low level of melamine (15 ppm) - the chemical at the heart of the infant formula scandal in China.

Melamine is rich in nitrogen, an element often used to measure protein, and can be used to disguise diluted milk. It can cause kidney stones and other organ problems.

China said on Wednesday that a third infant has died after drinking contaminated milk and the number of sick has leapt to many thousands. An official said the health threat had been concealed for at least a month.

The number of children ill after drinking powdered milk laced melamine has risen nearly five-fold to 6,244, and those with "acute kidney failure" has reached 158, China's Health Minister Chen Zhu told a news conference.

Straits Times, AsiaOne, Reuters

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