Malawi bans Chinese milk product imports

LILONGWE, Oct 10 (Reuters) - Malawi has banned imports of all
Chinese milk products after contaminated milk and formula killed four
children and made thousands others ill in China, the trade minister
said on Friday.

Chinese-made milk products have been pulled off shelves worldwide
in a widening health scandal after the industrial chemical melamine was
found in milk and milk formula. Melamine is used to cheat nutrition
tests.

Many African nations rely heavily on cheap Chinese imports.

"We have put all our eyes on the imported milk and we are
restricting entry of all milk into the country from China," minister
Henry Mussa told Reuters.

Director-general of Malawi's bureau of standards, Devlin
Chokazinga, said authorities were testing some samples of imported
powdered milk from China and Asia.

"What we are doing is qualitative analysis since we cannot actually
do the quantitative test for the identification of melamine because we
don't have equipment," Chokazinga said.

Malawi established diplomatic relations with China in December last year. (Editing by Opheera McDoom)