SHANGHAI - CHINA'S widening contaminated milk crisis has prompted some consumers here to shift to soy milk, an industry official said on Monday.

VV Food and Beverage, China's largest soy milk producer, expects its sales to rise 15 per cent in the fourth quarter from a year earlier, said company spokesman Ding Jin Li.

'We are doing quite well in recent weeks,' Ding said. 'It is good news for us.'

VV, based in eastern Jiangsu province, plans to expand its soy milk product line in the fourth quarter and next year, anticipating more consumers will switch to the traditional Chinese drink following the incident, Ding said.

Other consumers have opted to make their own soy milk, state media reported.

The manager of a Dazhong Electrical Appliance store in Beijing estimated that soy bean grinder sales at his store were up 30 per cent since the crisis began earlier this month, Beijing Business Today reported.

Authorities have determined that products from 22 companies have been contaminated by melamine, a chemical used to make plastic, sickening nearly 53,000 babies and killing four.

Melamine has since been discovered in best-selling brands of regular milk, yoghurt and ice cream. Retailers across the country have pulled batches of milk powder products off the shelves. -- AFP