SEOUL - SOUTH Korea's food watchdog said on Tuesday that two more snacks imported from China were contaminated with the toxic chemical melamine, bringing the number of tainted brands discovered locally to six.

The products are Ritz Cracker Sandwiches Cheese, produced by Nabisco Food Suzhou Co, and Savory Rice Crackers from Danyang Day Bright Foods Co, said the Korea Food and Drug Administration.

Traces of melamine were previously detected in 'Misarang Custard' and 'Misarang Coconut' cakes, which were manufactured in China and sold by South Korea's Haitai Confectionery and Food Co.

The two other brands are Milk Rusk biscuits and Vegetable Creamer.

The South Korean agency has been inspecting 428 brands of imported food. It has completed checks on 186 items and found six contaminated with the chemical.

All six brands have been recalled, it said.

South Korea began the inspection after China said melamine, largely used in making plastics, was found in infant milk formula, sickening nearly 53,000 children and killing four.

South Korea has banned the import of all products containing Chinese powdered milk.

Lipton-brand milk tea powder recalled in HK, Macau
Anglo-Dutch food giant Unilever said Tuesday it has started recalling some of its Lipton-brand milk tea powder in Hong Kong and Macau after they were found to contain traces of an industrial chemical.

The recall of four batches of Lipton's 3-in-1 milk tea powder came after the company's internal quality check found melamine in the products, Unilever Hong Kong Ltd said in a statement.

The contaminated products used Chinese-made milk powder as raw material, said marketing director Sharon Hwang for Unilever Hong Kong. She declined to reveal which Chinese brand the company had used.

'In order to comply with local regulations and as a precautionary measure, we are recalling all packs produced ... from Hong Kong and Macau markets,' the statement said.

Last week, Unilever has also removed Lipton Green Milk Tea from the Taiwan market because the product used Chinese-made milk.

Hong Kong's Center for Food Safety also called on the public to avoid drinking the contaminated products and alerted all suppliers, importers and retailers to stop selling them. The agency did not find melamine in Lipton products so far.

Responding to the recall, two leading supermarket chains, Wellcome and PARKnSHOP, removed the four contaminated products from shelves.

Thailand tightens China dairy import restrictions
Separately in Thailand, the country is tightening restrictions on dairy products from China after finding two samples of milk powder contaminated with melamine, Deputy Health Minister Wicharn Meechainant said on Tuesday.

'We will issue a new ministerial regulation very soon that milk imported from China must be checked more thoroughly,' he told reporters.

Thousands of children in China have been hospitalised with kidney illnesses and four have died after drinking milk formula tainted with the chemical, causing public outrage and shining a spotlight on food safety after a series of problems with other products.

Sixty tonnes of milk powder imported from China were impounded on Monday after Thai Food and Drug Administration inspectors found melamine traces, Mr Wicharn said, without revealing the level of melamine concentration.

The chemical, which can be used to artificially boost the level of nitrogen in dairy products, was also found in another shipment of 20 tonnes of Chinese milk products.

However, in the latter case, levels of the chemical were found to be 0.35-0.55 milligrams per kg, below an acceptable standard of 1 milligram per kg, Mr Wicharn said.

Bangladesh finds melamine in Chinese milk products
Authorities in Bangladesh said on Tuesday that a brand of milk powder imported from China was contaminated with the toxic chemical melamine.

The head of the Bangladesh Standard and Testing Institute, Azmal Hossain, said that traces of melamine had been found in a batch of products made by the Chinese firm Yashili.

'We have collected the products from the market and tests show there is 7.22 milligrammes of melamine per kilogramme. This level has the potential to cause kidney failure in young children.'

Bangladesh has banned the import of all products containing Chinese powdered milk, he said, and further tests were being carried out on other brands.

Bangladeshi authorities last week ordered products from the company Yashili and another firm, Suncare, to be removed from shop shelves.

Health minister A.M. Shawkat Ali said the government had alerted hospitals throughout the country.

Kidney doctors had not reported a higher than usual incidence of problems, he said.

Melamine can be added to substandard or watered-down milk to fool quality checks, which often use nitrogen levels to measure the amount of protein in milk. The chemical is used in pesticides and in making plastics. -- REUTERS, AFP, AP