Police arrested two more suspects in a widening infant milk powder scandal in China and vowed further arrests amid fears that more sick babies will be discovered, state press said Tuesday.
Police in Hebei province arrested two people who confessed to adding the industrial chemical melamine to milk and stepped up an investigation of the Sanlu Group, packagers of the product, Xinhua news agency said.
The report quoted one of the suspects, a milk dealer surnamed Zhao, as saying he added melamine to eliminate a "strange smell" in milk from his cows.
"Someone told me if melamine is added, it will not only dispel the strange smell of the milk, but will also drive up the protein content in the milk," he said.
Four people have been formally arrested in the scandal, which has killed two babies so far.
Those arrested included two brothers surnamed Geng, while 22 others have been detained for questioning, it said.
More arrests are expected, Xinhua quoted police officials as saying.
The government announced Monday that 1,253 infants in China were suffering from kidney stones after being fed the melamine-laced Sanlu milk powder.
Xinhua warned that more cases could be uncovered and quoted Vice Health Minister Ma Xiaowei urging hospitals to prepare as the numbers of children brought in for check-ups "could rise drastically."
Authorities in Hebei announced Tuesday that 861 babies in the province had been diagnosed with kidney stones after consuming Sanlu formula.
It was not immediately clear if those were included in the nationwide figure.
The Sanlu Group, one of China's leading dairy producers, is headquartered in Hebei's provincial capitalof Shijiazhuang, near Beijing.
The Group is 43 percent owned by New Zealand dairy giant Fonterra.
The government has criticised Sanlu for not going public sooner with the health concerns, which began to emerge as early as March, or after tests in early August showed melamine in the product.
The scandal, which erupted in Gansu last week, is the latest to rock China's food industry, which has been tarnished by a series of health scares in recent years.
Source: AFP Global Edition
