EU agency to check health risk of China milk powder

ANNECY, France (Reuters) - Europe's top food safety agencywill issue a scientific opinion this week on whether processeditems containing milk products coming from China pose a risk tohuman health, the agency's chief said on Monday.

Speaking on the margins of an informal meeting of EUagriculture ministers in France, the executive director of theEuropean Food Safety Authority (EFSA) said the opinion waslikely to be issued on Wednesday or Thursday.

EFSA's opinion had been requested by the EuropeanCommission, the EU's executive arm responsible for monitoringfood safety and implementation of EU food standards across thebloc's 27 member countries, Catherine Geslain-Laneelle said.

"The Commission would like to know, in case you findmelamine in this type of product, would there be a risk forhuman health," she told Reuters.

"There are so many ingredients that are imported and thenused in complex products."

China's top quality regulator has resigned over thescandal, which has found milk powder contaminated with theindustrial chemical melamine, used in making plastics.

Four deaths have been blamed on the toxic milk powder,which causes kidney stones and agonising complications, and astring of Asian countries have banned or recalled Chinese milkproducts. Thousands of Chinese infants are also sick inhospital after drinking tainted milk formula.

While the European Union does not import milk or milkproducts from China, Commission experts are keen to makeabsolutely sure that nothing enters EU markets as an ingredientor as part of a processed product that might pose a healthrisk.

"There's no question of having milk products from China inthe European Union ... but in case they (Chinese) have usedmilk for the production of biscuits, for example," EU HealthCommissioner Androulla Vassiliou told reporters.

"My suspicion is that they use melamine to give theimpression of high protein in the milk. It's not a coincidencethat people are being criminally prosecuted in China," shesaid.

Melamine is rich in nitrogen, and relatively cheap. Addingit to milk makes watered-down milk's protein level appearhigher. Standard quality tests estimate protein levels bymeasuring nitrogen content.

(Editing by Michael Roddy)