China’s General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine have declared new milk products to be melamine free. Xinhua reports:

The latest sample test detected no melamine in newly supplied liquid milk on China’s market, the country’s quality watchdog said Saturday.

Samples of 609 batches of liquid milk from 27 cities across China were found free of melamine, said the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ).

Altogether 75 brands were sampled for the test, including top-selling ones such as Yili, Mengniu, Bright Dairy, Sanyuan and Wandashan, according to the AQSIQ.

This report comes out amidst a flurry of international responses to the melamine crisis. Among them are the EU’s maintenance of its ban on baby milk products, Thailand’s order to return 122 tons of Chinese milk powder, and South Korea’srecall of melamine-tainted Snickers and Kit-Kat chocolate bars.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has set a maximum amount of 2.5 parts per million in food products. From the Washington Post:

Several melamine-contaminated foods found in recent weeks in the United States had far more of the chemical.

Melamine levels in imported Chinese candies recalled last week in California, for instance, were as high as 520 parts per million. White Rabbit candies from China were recalled after authorities in California and Connecticut found melamine. And Friday, a New Jersey company announced that it was recalling a yogurt-type drink from China — Blue Cat Flavor Drink — after FDA testing found melamine.

[…]But Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), head of a House subcommittee that oversees FDA funding, criticized the agency for saying there could be safe levels of melamine in foods.

“While other countries throughout the world, including the European Union, are acting to ban melamine-contaminated products from China, the FDA has chosen to establish an acceptable level for melamine in food in an attempt to convince consumers that it is not harmful,” DeLauro said in a statement. “Not only is this is an insult to consumers, but it would appear that the FDA is condoning the intentional contamination of foods.”

In Taiwan, mounted frustrations over the melamine controversy are still high. BBC reports (with video) on a parliament scuffle:

Taiwan’s health minister has been admitted to hospital after being allegedly attacked by opposition MPs over the tainted Chinese milk scandal.

Yeh Ching-chuan was pushed around and grabbed by the neck as he tried to leave parliament, according to governing party lawmakers.

Countries affected by the crisis are mapped here, via BBC: