Vancouver, British Columbia, Sept 23 - Canada has expanded how many imported products will be monitored for tainted Chinese milk ingredients, but initial testing of infant formula has discovered no problems, the government said on Monday.
Food processors have also been told to alert the Canadian Food Inspection Agency to any domestic products that were made using milk or milk-derived ingredients such as powders from China, officials said.
Canadians were warned last week not to purchase infant formula from China amid fears that it had been adulterated with the industrial chemical melamine, which causes kidney stones and agonizing complications.
No infant formula approved for sale in Canada uses milk ingredients made in China, and no illnesses associated with melamine have been reported, the CFIA said.
In China, four deaths have been blamed on toxic milk power and nearly 13,000 infants are reported to be sick after drinking tainted milk formula.
Health Canada has also warned makers of natural health products using milk ingredients from China about potential for melamine contamination, officials said on Monday.
Canada grappled this summer with its own domestic food poisoning scare, when deli meats produced at a Toronto factory owned by Maple Leaf Foods were blamed for for an outbreak of listeriosis linked to at least 16 deaths.