A LOCAL supermarket chain faces prosecution for selling China dairy products, despite an ongoing blanket ban by the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA).

Officers from the food safety agency have found banned China dairy products in the Serangoon and Balestier Road outlets of I-Tec Supermart, said AVA spokesman Goh Shih Yong.

This follows a tip-off by The Sunday Times, which found on Sept 20 that some I-Tec outlets were still selling bottled Dutch Lady strawberry milk - a product declared as melamine-tainted then.

China-made items such as Monmilk milk and certain Wall's ice-cream products were also prominently displayed in those stores.

On Sept 19, the AVA issued a precautionary ban on all dairy products from China because of the widening melamine-in-milk food scare. It has since added that any food product that contains China dairy, including those made elsewhere, are banned as well.

So far melamine, a potentially harmful chemical which is normally used in plastics, has been found in 10 items here, ranging from milk and yoghurt ice bars to crackers and milk candy.

Under the Sale of Food Act, anyone found selling unwholesome food can be fined up to $10,000 or sentenced to three months jail, or both.

When contacted by The Straits Times, I-Tec's owner Mr Kang Chit Hian confirmed that he had received the summonses, and added that he would contact the AVA.

I-Tec is not the only retailer here to have fallen foul of the AVA. Since the ban started, the AVA has received about 24 tip-offs from the public about retailers who have continued to sell China dairy products.

So far it has issued verbal warnings to 10 smaller retailers, such as minimarts and provision shops.

Currently there are 24 AVA officers doing daily checks to catch those violating the ban. Together with National Environment Agency officers, they have checked 4,200 retail outlets, coffeeshops, hawker centres, food courts and food manufacturers.

Meanwhile the AVA is still continuing to test products for melamine contamination. Besides the 10 previously-identified items, they have yet to find new cases.