The fight to clean up the mess also received a boost when the police arrested a man with 600 tonnes of melamine destined for milk supply - the biggest bust of its kind.

Yet even amid the clean-up effort, Beijing is pointing an accusing finger at other countries, criticising them for banning Chinese milk.

During a World Trade Organisation meeting on Thursday in Geneva, Chinese officials protested against the milk

import ban by more than 30 countries, claiming that melamine was accidentally, and not deliberately, added to the milk.

This was despite more than 20 Chinese companies having been found with products contaminated by the toxic chemical and some 40 people arrested.

But Chinese Deputy Health Minister Liu Qian struck a more conciliatory note yesterday, telling his Asian counterparts in Manila that Beijing will help foreign companies seek compensation from the disgraced milk companies.

In Beijing, the tough talk was reserved for the offenders.

The official Xinhua news agency said that there will be 'more severe punishments' not only for those who violate safety standards, but also for quality-control officials who fail to do their jobs.

'Law-breaking producers will be blacklisted and outed publicly,' it added, without specifying how severe the new punishments would be.

Dairy controls will also be tightened, covering the entire process of milk production. 'Non-food chemicals or hazardous substances' are banned from being added into raw milk, added Xinhua, citing the regulations issued on Thursday by the State Council.

These new regulations would provide little relief to the families of the four babies who died after drinking the tainted milk and the more than 53,000 children with urinary tract problems, including kidney stones.

More than 10,000 children are still hospitalised, with eight in serious condition, according to the Health Ministry earlier this week.

Attempts to seek legal redress have been blocked in some instances by local government officials.

According to a statement released by a group of 107 lawyers who volunteered to help the affected families, officials from central Henan province have asked them to stop their attempts.

'We are unable to understand and are deeply disappointed with these actions which go against human reason and damage the central government's affectionate care for the victims of the tainted milk,' said the statement.

So far, there have been two known cases of lawsuits filed against Sanlu - the dairy company at the heart of this scandal.

On online forums, netizens post dark and, at times mean, jokes about Chinese milk - with most targeted at Sanlu.

shpeh@sph.com.sg