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Melamine vats seized in China

29/09/2008

Chinese authorities have seized 222.5kg of melamine as the country's milk contamination scandal deepens.

Twenty-two people were arrested in the raids in northern China's Hebei province.

State media said police had broken a network connected with the manufacture and sale of toxic chemical melamine and tainted milk.

Hundreds of thousands of litres of milk and dairy products have been pulled from Chinese supermarket shelves over the contamination crisis, which has killed four infants and made 54,000 ill.

Melamine can give milk the appearance of being rich in protein, but if consumed can cause kidney failure.

The Xinhua news agency said today's arrests uncovered underground melamine production plants.

According to the news agency, the ringleader of the operation had added melamine to his milk in order to pass the protein test at dairy giant Sanlu.

The authorities in Beijing have already admitted that dairy officials may have been aware of the contamination for several years.