BEIJING - A SOUTH China city is considering using milk at the centre of a poisoned food scandal to make bricks as a cheap and clean way of disposing of the tainted products, state media reported on Tuesday.

Guangzhou officials are looking into the viability of dumping the toxic products, found to have been tainted with the industrial chemical melamine, into furnaces that make bricks and cement, the Nanfang Daily reported, citing Mr Wang Fan, director of the city's food safety office.

The plan comes after some Guangzhou garbage stations earlier this month poured tainted milk into rivers, triggering concerns the city's water supply would be contaminated, it said.

Using the milk products in the manufacturing process is estimated to cost 700 yuan (S$157) for each tonne of milk processed, more than 70 per cent cheaper than burning it in garbage incinerators, earlier media reports said.

The reports said that burying the poisoned products was another alternative allowed by the government, at a cost of 200 yuan a tonne, but quantities would have to be limited to prevent soil pollution.

In China alone, four children have died and 53,000 have fallen ill after consuming milk or milk products laced with melamine, which can make the protein content appear higher.

Many countries and territories have banned Chinese milk and milk products in the wake of the scandal, one of many involving tainted Chinese-made foods. -- AFP