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By Dawn Tay
Pet food and livestock feed here will undergo melamine tests, according to the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority of Singapore (AVA).
AVA spokesman Goh Shih Yong told my paper that the agency will move on to animal food after it finishes testing its samples of human food products.
He said: "We want to check if there's any adulteration in other protein-related substances."
Last year, in North America, melamine-tainted pet food from China was blamed for the deaths of hundreds of cats and dogs - which led to the recall of more than 100 pet-food brands in March last year.
The AVA was unable to give a date as to when animal-feed testing would begin, but said the ongoing testing of human food products was the agency's priority.
Since the middle of last month, 1,450 samples of 725 products meant for human consumption have been tested, out
of the 2,256 samples taken by the AVA.
Two summonses have been served by the AVA against minimart chain I-Tec Supermarket, for allegedly persisting in selling imported milk and milk products from China. According to the AVA, 10 other retail outlets have been given verbal warnings.
So far, tainted milk has killed four children in China and made about 53,000 sick - and the Chinese authorities say the numbers are still rising.
In Beijing, 382 new cases linked to melamine-tainted milk were diagnosed in the past week alone.
Yesterday, wire agencies reported that China has detained six more suspects in the country's tainted-milk scandal.
This brings the number of people being held in connection with the scandal to 32.
Meanwhile, Iran has become the latest country to ban China milk products, according to wire reports yesterday.
And in South Korea, 10 China-made products tested positive for melamine. The tainted products include popular products such as Kit Kat bars from food giant Nestle SA, and M&M's and Snickers snacks from Mars Inc.
Countries are also starting to count the losses brought on by the melamine fallout. According to the Taipei Times last Wednesday, the Taiwan government is estimating a loss of up to NT$8billion (S$361 million) - if all products that have been pulled off shelves need to be destroyed.
According to the official news website of the Philippine broadcasting company GMANews, Mars Inc - the local
distributor of Snickers chocolate bars in Manila - complained that it has lost 30 million pesos (S$900,000) in revenue since the milk scare surfaced in the country two weeks ago.
For more my paper stories click here.
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