HK found Melamine in Malaysian Crackers

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HONG KONG, Oct 18 Hong Kong's food safety watchdog said on Saturday it has found unsafe levels of the industrial chemical melamine in crackers made by a Malaysian company.

The Centre for Food Safety said it found the chemical in two samples of crackers manufactured by Malaysia's Munchy Food Industries Sdn Bhd. It did not say where the products were made..

Milk powder contaminated with melamine has been blamed for the deaths of four infants and for sickening about 54,000 others in mainland China. Hong Konghas also found 10 children with kidney stones who had consumed Chinese-made milk products.

A sample of Munchy's Mini Crackers with Peanut Butter was found to contain 5.4 parts per million (ppm) of melamine, while Munchy's Mini Crackers with Cheese Cream had 3.8 ppm, the food safety watchdog said in a statement. The territory has set the safe limit at 2.5 ppm.

Calls to Munchy Food's office in Malaysiawent unanswered Saturday.

A notice on its Web site says its products are safe for consumption because the ingredients come from Franceor Australia.

"We do not source any of these ingredients from Chinaand our suppliers assure us that there is no danger of melamine adulteration in their products," the notice says.

The company was featured by The Star on Sept 20 in an article headlined "Munchy's does Malaysia proud".

Chinese authorities have blamed dairy suppliers for contamination there, saying they added melamine to watered-down milk to dupe quality control tests and make the product appear rich in protein.

Melamine is used in the manufacturing of plastics, fertiliser, paint and adhesives.

Health experts say ingesting a small amount poses no danger, but in larger doses, the chemical can cause kidney stones and lead to kidney failure. Infants are particularly vulnerable.