Chiang Mai – A company whose milk powder had been banned after being found to contain the chemical melamine has recalled the tainted product, offering consumers in Burma an opportunity to exchange infected packages of the product for uncontaminated milk powder.

The Rangoon-based City Mart retail stores initiated the exchange program on the 10th of October. In order to exchange their defected package, customers must bring the original receipt and undamaged package of the contaminated product, Dulac (Dumex Step 1).

"We cleared all the banned products from our shelves as instructed by officials. Any product currently on the shelf has not been banned. We will only exchange the Dulac (Dumex Step 1) for another product," a salesperson from a City Mart store in Mingalar Taungnyunt Township told Mizzima.

Dulac milk powder is made by a New Zealand Company which has subsidiaries in several countries, including China.

The Ministry of Health announced on the 13th of October that seven brands of milk powder on Burmese markets were found contaminated with the industrial chemical melamine, which is used in the production of plastic and fertilizer. However, 16 brands of milk powder in total were banned by the Ministry of Health.

Melamine can harm consumers, especially children, by causing kidney stones; but no cases of illness definitively traced to contaminated milk powder have thus far been reported in Burma.

The Ministry of Health and No. 1 Ministry of Industry continue to test milk and milk products for the presence of melamine, and will later issue the results of their findings, according to officials.

About 54,000 children in China have suffered from melamine contamination related illnesses after consuming infected milk and milk products made in China. Four of the children have died.