Ho Chi Minh City Health Department inspectors examine a non-dairy creamer shipment at the Lua Chon Dinh (Top Choice) International Food Company before sealing it.

Many parents in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City are having their children tested for kidney stones in local hospitals following the tainted milk scare in China.

Hanoi-based Central Children’s Hospital said Monday that many parents were worried about the risk of kidney stones for their children using milk products.

While most children are taken to the hospital for common diseases like cough, fever, and diarrhea, their parents have also asked about kidney stones.

Nguyen Thanh Liem, the hospital’s director, said it had not admitted any child with kidney stones recently.

He said infants affected by the melamine-contaminated infant formula could have some symptoms like difficulty urinating or crying when urinating due to pain.

While there are no direct human studies on the effect of melamine, data from animal studies can be used . to predict adverse health effects, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

Melamine can cause bladder stones, kidney stones and lead to kidney failure.

Other Hanoi-based hospitals like Xanh Pon, Bach Mai and HCMC’s Children Hospitals No. 1 and No. 2 have also said they have not come across any child affected by melamine-tainted milk products, though many parents have expressed worries when taking their children to consult with the doctors about other problems.

Toxic non-diary creamer

HCMC inspectors Monday sealed two non-dairy creamer shipments weighing more than 100 tons in the outlying district of Cu Chi after a sample from one tested positive for melamine.

The shipment belonged to the Lua Chon Dinh (Top Choice) International Food Company.

More than 23 tons of the Top Choice brand of instant coffee that has non-dairy creamer among its ingredients were also sealed pending further tests.

Deputy Health Minister Cao Minh Quang said that the ministry, in a dispatch sent to People’s Committees nationwide, had required preschools not to suspend allowing students to drink milk, but to choose safe milk products instead.

The Food Hygiene Safety Bureau under the ministry Monday announced another 36 milk and milk-related products to be free of melamine, in addition to the 51 samples earlier.

Reported by Nam Son –Thanh Tung