Hong Kong, Oct 18 - Excessive amounts of the chemical melamine have been found in biscuits in Hong Kong made by Malaysian-based biscuit manufacturer Munchy Food Industries, a government laboratory said on Saturday.
The announcement is part of the Hong Kong government's continued testing of dairy-related products after thousands of children in China have fallen sick since last month after drinking milk containing the substance.
The Centre for Food Safety (CFS) said it found a sample of Munchy's Mini Crackers with Peanut Butter contained 5.4 parts per million (ppm) of melamine, while a sample of Munchy's Mini Crackers with Cheese Cream had 3.8 ppm.
Under Hong Kong regulations, the limit for melamine in these products is 2.5 ppm, the food safety body said.
"Based on the levels detected, people are advised to stop consuming the products concerned," an unidentified spokesman for the Centre for Food Safety was quoted as saying in the statement.
The positive tests of melamine in the Munchy products are the latest detected by the laboratory, which have included earlier this month excessive amounts of melamine in two types of Cadbury Plc chocolate made in China.
Calls to a telephone number listed in a website for Munchy's products went unanswered.
However, the website displayed a notice telling consumers its products were safe given that milk and diary-based ingredients they used came from either France or Australia, but not China.
"We wish to assure all our customers and consumers that all our products are safe for consumption," the notice said in the website.
"We do not source any of these ingredients from China and our suppliers assure us that there is no danger of melamine adulteration in their products."