BEIJING, Sept 26: China’s toxic milk scandal escalated on Friday as one of the nation’s famous candy brands was pulled off shelves and four more people outside the mainland were thought to have fallen ill.

The industrial chemical melamine has also been found in Heinz baby cereal and in potato crackers in the southern Chinese territory of Hong Kong and officials ordered a recall of the products.

In China, the maker of White Rabbit candy, given to US president Richard Nixon on a landmark 1972 trip, said it was halting domestic sales after its products were found to contain melamine, normally used to make plastic.

A hospital in Taiwan said three young children who frequently visited China had developed kidney stones after drinking tainted Chinese milk formula.

The mother of one of the children had also developed kidney stones, the National Yang-Ming University Hospital said.

The only other five cases of children falling ill from drinking tainted milk outside the mainland have so far been reported in Hong Kong, where authorities said they had ordered a recall of two more tainted products.

Hong Kong’s Centre for Food Safety said it had ordered retailers to pull Heinz DHA+AA Vegetable Formula Cereal and Silang House of Steamed Potato Wasabi Cracker from their shelves.

It threatened the producers of tainted food with prosecution if there was “sufficient evidence”. The news is the latest twist in an embarrassing scandal that has left 53,000 children in China sick, killing four, after they drank contaminated milk.

The number of countries banning or restricting imports of Chinese milk products has risen further, with the European Union saying it would ban some Chinese products containing milk.

“Europe will continue to expect higher standards as Chinese consumers expect the same,” Peter Mandelson, EU Trade Commissioner, told reporters on a trip to Beijing.

White Rabbit producer Guanshengyuan had previously recalled exports after Singapore authorities said they had tested positive for melamine, a spokesman said.

“We’ve recalled White Rabbit candy for export overseas, and we are temporarily halting domestic sales,” said the spokesman, who declined to be named.

The Shanghai Entry-Exit Inspection and Quarantine Bureau was testing the White Rabbit candies, but the results have yet to be released, the official Xinhua news agency reported.

On Thursday, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency also recommended a recall of White Rabbit candies, and Britain’s biggest retailer Tesco said it had withdrawn the brand.

India and Libya on Thursday banned imports of Chinese milk products, while Gabon said it was sending back tens of thousands of boxes of contaminated milk powder. Togo and Benin also halted imports along with Suriname, where Chinese-made sweets were stripped from supermarket shelves.—AFP