The European Union banned imports of baby food containing Chinese milk yesterday as more Asian countries pulled suspect products off shelves.
The EU also called for tighter checks on other Chinese food imports.
"The measures impose an exclusive, total ban all products originating from China for infants and young children, containing any percentage of milk," said EU spokeswoman Nina Papadoulaki.
Tests will be carried out on all imported goods from China containing more than 15% milk powder and products already on sale in the EU will face random tests, Papadoulaki said.
Increased controls introduced last week had not found any food imports to be tainted with melamine, but the EU is "taking the measure for a precaution," she said.
Chinese baby formula tainted with melamine has been blamed for the deaths of four infants in China and the illnesses of 54,000 others. Melamine-tainted products have turned up in an increasing number of Chinese-made exports abroad - from sweets to yogurt to rice balls.
Health experts say ingesting a small amount of melamine, used to make plastics and fertilizer, poses no danger but it can cause kidney stones and lead to kidney failure. Infants are particularly vulnerable.
The World Health Organization and UNICEF, the UN Children's Fund yesterday issued a statement deploring the incident but said they were confident China's food safety authorities were investigating this incident fully.
The Maldives, Thailand and the Philippines were the latest Asian countries to ban Chinese products in the wake of the growing scandal.
Authorities in Shanghai and the southern province of Hainan pulled popular White Rabbit sweets, already banned in Singapore and the UK, from shelves. They remain on sale at some shops in Beijing.
China's state TV said yesterday that there have been no positive tests of melamine on major brands of milk, yoghurt and other liquid dairy products since September 14.
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