The crisis, which has sickened nearly 53,000 children in China and killed four, has spread to more than 20 companies and affected products including chocolate, yoghurt and bicuits.

Brunei, Singapore, Cambodia, Indonesia, Taiwan and Malaysia have already banned all milk products from China while a number of countries have announced recalls of a variety of goods suspected of being laced.

Melamine can make milk and other food products appear to have a higher protein content than they actually do.

US coffee giant Starbucks stopped serving drinks with milk in many Chinese outlets, while in Hong Kong Nestle, the world's largest food company, said it had recalled a UHT pure milk product after a safety watchdog discovered samples containing a tiny amount of melamine.

Leading Japanese manufacturer Marudai Food Co. is recalling thousands of products, while authorities have ordered importers and quarantine stations to scrutinise Chinese dairy products.

There were no reports of health problems from consumers, the company said.

Japan's association of prefectural governors asked the Tokyo government to temporarily suspend imports of all Chinese dairy products.

"The government needs to take measures swiftly," the association warned.

Australian officials were testing China-made sweets for traces of melamine and scanning the shelves of small Asian supermarkets for other imports that may contain tainted milk.

"The good news is that no Chinese infant formula products are imported here, nor any major mainstream milk products," Food Standards Australia and New Zealand spokeswoman Lydia Buchtmann said.

"We are just making sure that none of the contaminated ingredients have ended up in some of those smaller products," she told Australian Broadcasting Corporation, adding that any unsafe products would be recalled.

Singapore suspended the import and sale of all Chinese milk products last Friday after tests found samples containing melamine.

"These products include milk, ice cream, yoghurt, confectionery such as chocolates, biscuits and sweets, as well as any other products containing milk from China as an ingredient," the agri-food and veterinary authority (AVA) said.

AVA said tests first found melamine in samples of Yili brand iced yoghurt, and then in a brand of strawberry-flavoured milk.

Officials in Thailand said the kingdom did not import Sanlu, one of the two main milk formula brands that have melamine along with Mengniu.

But it said health authorities were on high alert and testing all Chinese dairy products.

South Korea said Monday it would inspect about 13,600 tons of Chinese dairy imports this year, including powdered milk and condensed milk.

Cambodian authorities said they had banned the import of all Chinese milk products since Friday amid fears tainted milk could end up in markets.

A senior health official in Myanmar said they planned to seize and destroy all imported Chinese baby formula as a precaution.

Chinese products are widely used in military-ruled Myanmar, which is under trade embargoes from numerous Western countries demanding democratic reform.

In Thailand, a Food and Drug Administration official said health authorities were on high alert and testing all Chinese dairy products entering the country for melamine.

The Afghan health ministry says it has found that Sanlu and Mengniu are not in Afghanistan but Mother's Milk is to be tested and women have been urged to breastfeed.

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