TAIPEI - THREE Taiwanese toddlers and one woman have developed kidney stones after drinking tainted Chinese milk products, a hospital here said on Friday, in the island's first confirmed cases.

All four victims had frequently visited China and the three children, all aged between two and three, drank Chinese milk formula, the National Yang-Ming University Hospital said.

'The hospital screened nine children who have been drinking milk suspected of containing melamine...and three are found to have kidney stones,' it said in a statement, adding the mother of one of the children also has the condition.

The four are Taiwan's first confirmed victims, although local media reported earlier this week that a two-year-old Taiwanese girl developed signs of a kidney ailment shortly after visiting China.

Four children have died in China and 53,000 are sick after consuming milk products laced with an industrial chemical.

Five children in Hong Kong have also developed kidney stones after drinking tainted Chinese milk, authorities there have said.

Taiwan has already banned all Chinese dairy imports and the island's health minister resigned on Thursday amid a public outcry over the sale of tainted products here.

Around 10 per cent of Taiwan's imported milk powder comes from China and authorities here have seized nearly 10 tonnes of formula produced by Sanlu Group, the Chinese company originally at the centre of the health scare. -- AFP