In the latest fallout from the toxic milk scandal, which has sickened some 53,000 Chinese babies, Cadbury said it had carried out internal tests on products made at its Beijing plant.

"As a result of these tests... we have received results that cast doubt on the integrity of a range of our products manufactured in China," said the statement from Cadbury Asia Pacific.

"As a result we believe it is appropriate to take a precautionary step to withdraw from the market, all of our Cadbury chocolate products that were manufactured in our Beijing plant... pending further supply of fresh products."

It was not clear if the tests had shown the products contained traces of melamine, the industrial chemical at the centre of the scandal.

Calls placed to the company's Asia headquarters in Singapore have not been returned.

In the statement, Cadbury said all of its Chinese suppliers have been cleared by the mainland government's testing regime.

The 11 brands recalled include Cadbury Eclairs and bulk packets of Dairy Milk chocolate, the statement said. No other brands have been affected, it added.

The chocolates are only distributed in Taiwan and Hong Kong, as well as one product line that is sold in Australia, the statement said.

The products are the latest in an ever-growing list of China-made foods and drinks that have been removed from stores here and across the world since the scandal was first exposed earlier this month.

Four children have died in China after drinking milk or milk products laced with melamine, which is usually used in making plastics.

Some manufacturers had been using it to make watered-down milk appear full of protein.

Five children in Hong Kong and one in Macau developed kidney stones after drinking tainted Chinese milk, the only cases outside mainland China.

Late Monday, Hong Kong's Centre for Food Safety said two samples of a milk biscuit, which it only identified as "QzY," contained unsatisfactory levels of melamine.

"We have earlier announced an unsatisfactory sample of the same product and asked the trade to stop selling the product concerned," said a spokesman for the centre, according to the government information service.

Dozens of countries have now banned dairy products from China or taken steps to curb consumption, with the European Union banning the import of all Chinese milk-related products for children.

China has struggled to contain the crisis, and Premier Wen Jiabao vowed over the weekend to ensure the 'Made in China' brand was safe for consumers at home and abroad.

Britain's Cadbury finds melamine in recalled food: spokesman
British sweet maker Cadbury found traces of the industrial chemical melamine in Chinese-made products recalled in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Australia, a spokesman for the company said Monday.

The chemical was found in tests carried out following the recall of products made at its Beijing plant, in the latest fallout from the toxic milk scandal which has killed four Chinese infants and made 53,000 others there ill.

"The tests have shown there were traces of melamine," said Tony Bilsborough, a spokesman at the firm's headquarters in Birmingham, central England. He gave no more details and referred questions to the sweet maker's Singapore office.

Cadbury had earlier said it ordered a recall of China-made chocolates in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Australia after internal tests "cast doubt" on the safety of some chocolate products, it said in a statement.

The 11 brands recalled include Cadbury Eclairs and bulk packets of Dairy Milk chocolate, the company said earlier.

They are the latest in a list, expanding by the day, of China-made foods and drinks that have been removed from stores around the world since the scandal was first exposed earlier this month.

More than a dozen Asian and African countries, plus the 27-member European Union, have taken steps to ban or otherwise limit consumption of Chinese milk-product imports.

Laos, Mali and Niger on Monday became the latest to order such measures.

The crisis is among the most serious in a litany of product-safety scandals emerging from China's chaotic and corrupt manufacturing industries in recent years.

Besides the toll in mainland China, five children in Hong Kong, one in Macau, and four people in Taiwan have reportedly developed kidney stones after drinking tainted Chinese products.

Chinese premier Wen Jiabao vowed over the weekend to work to restore his country's reputation, saying it was facing the problem "candidly".

However, a Chinese human rights group said Monday the government was suppressing media coverage vital to assigning blame and preventing a recurrence.

"China has tightened its grip on media freedom to contain rising nationwide outrage at tainted milk products," China Human Rights Defenders, a network of domestic and foreign human rights activists, said in an emailed report.

It cited several instances of reporting by Chinese media censored or banned by authorities. AFP could not immediately verify the allegations.

Normally used in making plastics and fertiliser, melamine is believed to have been added to milk to give it the appearance of higher protein content.

The rights group said the central government had ordered all Chinese media to toe the official line on the issue, thereby preventing exposure of "deep-seated problems in the system."

Xinhua reported last week that officials at Sanlu Group, the dairy firm at the centre of the scandal, knew as far back as December that babies were falling ill but did not report the problem to local authorities until August.

The report, citing a cabinet investigation, said those local officials then waited one month to pass the concerns onto higher authorities.

Police in northern China have detained 22 people in raids on a ring that made and sold the industrial chemical melamine and added it to milk, Xinhua said.

Nineteen of those detained in Hebei province were managers of "pastures, breeding farms and milk purchasing stations," the news agency reported.

The detentions came after more than 800 police raided 41 "pastures, breeding farms, and milk purchasing stations" in and around the city of Shijiazhuang.

Shijiazhuang is the headquarters of Sanlu.

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