China reported a first death on Saturday in a scandal over contaminated milk powder which it blamed for causing kidney stones and making 432 babies fall ill.
Sanlu Group, a dairy producer partly owned by New Zealand dairy giant Fonterra Co-operative Group, has been ordered to halt production after a preliminary investigation found its products were responsible, officials said.
Nineteen people have been detained on suspicion of breaking food safety laws, and 78 have been questioned, said Yang Chongyong, vice governor of the northern province of Hebei, where Sanlu is based.
"This is a severe food safety accident," Gao Qiang, a senior official at the Ministry of Health, told a news conference called by the cabinet's information office in Beijing.
The official Xinhua news agency reported that one baby had died because of the contaminated powder.
NZ firm knew of contaminated milk weeks before China recall; Yahoo News