Anglo-Dutch food giant Unilever is recalling its Lipton-brand milk tea powder in Hong Kong and Macau after they were found to contain traces of a banned industrial chemical.
The recall of four batches of Lipton's three-in-one milk tea powder came after the company's internal quality check found melamine, used to make plastics and fertilisers, in the products, Unilever Hong Kong Ltd said, according to a report in our sister publication, the Gulf Daily News.
The contaminated products used Chinese-made milk powder as raw material.
Dozens of Chinese-made food products have been found to contain melamine, killing four babies and sickening more than 53,000 in mainland China.
Chinese officials have been struggling in recent weeks to contain the scandal as a
growing range of China-made dairy products are being pulled off shelves across the world, tarnishing the 'Made in China' brand.
The Unilever said the company was taking the move as a precautionary measure.
The Hong Kong Centre for Food Safety called on the public to stop drinking the products. 'We have alerted the trade and asked them to stop selling the products. We will collect samples for testing and are closely monitoring the situation,' said a spokesman.
The centre also announced three other brands of cakes and snacks were found with melamine after testing.
Fv Walnut Cakes and Coconut Cakes and Glico Pocky Mens Coffee Cream Coated Biscuit Sticks contained unacceptable levels of melamine and would be recalled shortly, the centre said on Monday.
The moves come just one day after British sweet maker Cadbury recalled its China-made chocolates from Hong Kong, Taiwan and Australia after tests 'cast doubt' on their safety.
More than a dozen Asian and African countries, plus the 27-member EU, have taken steps to ban or limit consumption of products containing Chinese dairy.
Last week, Unilever removed Lipton Green Milk Tea from the Taiwan market because the product used Chinese-made milk. South Korea has banned imports of all Chinese-made food products containing powdered milk.