Senior Chinese Health Ministry official Gao Qiang addresses a press conference on Saturday, September 13, 2008, regarding the official handling of the contaminated Sanlu baby milk powder incident. [Photo: china.com.cn]

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North China's Hebei provincial government has ordered a halt of production of the Sanlu Group, the producer of the contaminated milk powder that initial investigation shows caused kidney stones of at least 432 babies.

Relevant authorities of the Central Government have ordered stopping sales of all Sanlu brand baby milk powder on the market and tightening checks on feedstuff, raw milk, and the processing, wholesale and sale links, Gao Qiang, a senior official of China's health ministry, said at a press conference on Saturday.

"It is a severe food safety incident," said Gao Qiang, referring to the baby milk powder contamination case involving the Sanlu Group.

A preliminary investigation has confirmed the baby milk powder contaminated by melamine was the cause of kidney stones in infants, said Gao, who is heading an emergency response group to deal with the Sanlu case.

Melamine is a raw chemical strictly forbidden by China to be used in food processing, he said, noting that the melamine substance found in some of the Sanlu products was deliberately added by lawless people to increase the protein percentage in raw milk or milk powder.

The health ministry has notified the World Health Organization, Hong Kong and Macao's health departments, the New Zealand Embassy in China and the press about the development, Gao said.

The State Council's Taiwan affairs office has also notified Taiwan's relevant department about the situation, urging the public to immediately stop consuming the Sanlu formula and seek medical assistance if they find babies who have drunk the formula have any trouble urinating.

According to Gao, Sanlu Group had got complaints about its baby milk powder in March and then confirmed the problems through an internal company investigation. It also took actions to recall some of these products. However, for a long time after that the group didn't report it to the government nor did it reveal the information to the public.

"Sanlu Group should take a large part of responsibility in the case," said Gao.

The country reported 432 sick babies suffering from kidney stones as of Friday, he said.

The State Council, or the Cabinet, has decided to launch a nationwide checkup on all the country's baby milk powder producers and the results will be announced to the public, according to Gao.

"Substandard milk powder will be recalled and banned for sale," Gao said, citing the orders given by the Cabinet.

The State Council also pledged to give "free medical treatment" to the infant patients and urged the health departments to organize experts to fan out to remote rural areas to find out sick babies and send them into hospitals in time, the official said.

The central government vowed to release relevant information in time, including the investigation result of the incident, the treatment of the infant patients and the quality of other brands of milk powder.

In addition, the contaminated Sanlu baby milk powder was only sold on the Chinese mainland and Taiwan.

"None of the milk powder was exported to other countries or regions," Gao said at the press conference.

"Only a fraction of the milk powder was sold to Taiwan for food processing," he added.