China repeats that new analyses show that the melamine is gone, and the Chinese can buy milk again. But recalled products are still being sold in stores, and melamine has been found in other goods from China, including major brands.

Beijing (AsiaNews/Agencies) - China guarantees that its milk is safe now, and has arrested six more people for adulteration. But in the meantime, contaminated products are still being sold, and in South Korea, melamine has been found in other products from Western brands.

The general administration for the supervision of quality, inspection, and quarantine has announced that new inspections of 609 batches of fresh milk from 75 companies in 27 cities, including some of the most incriminated, have not revealed the presence of melamine. To restore trust among consumers, it has also been announced that more than 5,000 inspectors will check the factories, while the agriculture ministry has sent 152,000 officials to inspect milk storage stations.

Meanwhile, the police have arrested six people accused of producing and selling melamine, in Hohhot, capital of inner Mongolia, a leading dairy producing region where the China Mengniu Dairy Co. and the Inner Mongolia Yili Industrial Group Co. are based. The two companies are among those most embroiled in the scandal, and together produce more than 70% of Chinese milk. In recent days, the two companies have also launched a "buy one get one free" promotional campaign, which has sent the product flying off the shelves in cities like Shenzhen and Guangzhou.

The state media are reporting the comments from citizens who have started consuming the incriminated brands again, after assurances from Beijing. Today, shares in Mengniu and Yili rose on the Hong Kong stock market after plunging In the wake of the scandal.

But in the meantime, the South Korean food and drug administration announced today that it has found melamine in 10 Chinese dairy products, although "in quantities that are not very dangerous to the health," including M&M’s and Peanut Snickers Fun Size bars from Mars Korea, and Kit Kat bars from Nestlé Korea, in addition to rice cookies and cheese crackers produced by Korean companies that use Chinese ingredients. People in the country still remember that 1,637 tons of Chinese kimchi (a cabbage-based staple of Korean cuisine) were recalled in 2007, and 282 tons in 2006, because they contained additives and coloring agents unsuitable for human consumption, with the potential to cause tumors.

In Hong Kong, excessive quantities of the substance have been found in two types of chocolate from Cadbury, which the company has already withdrawn from the market in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Australia, as a precautionary measure.

In Chinese supermarkets, consumers are denouncing that even yesterday, recalled products containing melamine were still being sold. The media report that, in stores in Guangzhou, banned products from Mengniu were on sale on October 3, and even yesterday. Some of these are "mixed" with the more recent products maintained to be safe, during the " two for one" sale. "The most ridiculous part," one person tells the South China Morning Post, "is that right next to the shelf of these milk products, there is a government notice warning people not to buy them." Another person, in resignation, observes that "too many foods have been found to be contaminated. I've decided not to think about it. We're buying milk, at least as long as it's cheap."

• china
• contaminated
• milk
• melamine