BEIJING — The government was dispatching thousands of inspectors to monitor producers as officials reported Wednesday that the number of babies sick from tainted milk formula had climbed dramatically to nearly 6,200 from 1,200 a day earlier.
At least three children have died, and more than 1,300 others, mostly newborns, remain hospitalized, with dozens suffering from acute kidney failure.
Health Minister Chen Zhu said he expected the numbers of affected babies to increase as “more and more parents take kids to the hospital.”
The head of China’s quality- control watchdog agency, Li Changjiang, said 5,000 inspectors will be sent out nationwide to monitor companies after government testing showed that 20 percent of the companies producing milk powder had dairy products with melamine.
The chemical additive was at the center of a pet-food scandal in the United States in 2007. An estimated 1,500 dogs and cats died after ingesting a pet-food ingredient manufactured in China that was laced with melamine.
The emerging crisis has raised questions about the effectiveness of tighter controls China promised after a series of food scares in recent years over contaminated seafood, toothpaste and pet-food exports.
Suppliers to the dairy companies are believed to have added the banned chemical, normally used in plastics, to watered- down milk to make it appear higher in protein. Inspectors will now start testing for melamine in all dairy products, Li said.
U.S. authorities have said formula from China is not approved for import but may be on sale in ethnic groceries, especially areas with large Chinese populations.
Inspectors are checking for contaminated formula in U.S. stores, and U.S. Food and Drug Administration spokeswoman Judy Leon said none has been found. Inspectors have checked more than 500 stores in California alone.
“So that is good news,” she said.
