BEIJING — The number of children in China sickened by dairy products tainted with the banned industrial chemical melamine has jumped to nearly 53,000, the government said Sunday as it vowed to crack down on those responsible for one of the country’s worst food-safety scandals in years.
More than 80 percent of the 12,892 children hospitalized in recent weeks were 2 years old or younger, the Health Ministry said in a statement posted on its website late Sunday.
Four children have died, and 104 of the hospitalized children are in serious condition.
Another 39,965 children received outpatient treatment at hospitals and were considered “basically recovered,” the ministry said.
The Health Ministry said that most of the hospitalized children were sickened by powdered milk and baby formula. It said most of the sick children consumed baby formula from one company, the Shijiazhuang Sanlu Group Co., which is at the center of the scandal that appears to be spreading to Hong Kong and Singapore.
