RIYADH // Nestle has denied claims by Saudi Arabian authorities that harmful concentrations of melamine have been found in a milk power made by its plant in China. "All Nestle dairy products sold in Saudi Arabia ? just as anywhere else in the world ? are absolutely safe for consumption. No Nestle product is made from milk adulterated with melamine," Nestle said in a statement. Saudi Arabia's Food and Drug Authority reported on its website that high concentrations of the industrial chemical were found in products sold in the kingdom and warned consumers they could be harmful to health.
Saudi Arabia named the product as a 400-gram pack of Nesvita Pro Bones and said the batch was produced on May 6, 2008 by a Nestle plant in China. The authority said the product must not be used by consumers of any age. It said it had also found melamine concentrations harmful to children in three other batches of the same brand, in 1,800 and 900-gram packs made on Nov 19, 2007 and on Feb 25, 2008. Nestle said it had organised a withdrawal of Nesvita Pro Bones Low Fat after a request from Saudi Arabia on Oct 18 to pull milk products made in China, pending results of tests.
Nestle said its tests on the product ? as well as those by an independent laboratory ? gave results well below limits defined by the World Health Organisation (WHO) as well as by authorities in Canada, New Zealand and the European Union. Nestle made similar comments in October after Taiwan health officials ordered stores there to remove six types of Nestle dairy products after tests found traces of contamination. Nestle said then its products were safe, adding that Taiwan's standards were 50 times stricter than global norms. *Reuters