Chinese government summons major dairy companies

to buy up the plants of the company that produced contaminated milk...somehow these facilties have "great value"???...

BEIJING – China summoned five of its major dairy companies to a meeting Friday over the fate of Sanlu Group Co., the company at the center of a tainted milk scandal that has sickened thousands and led to the deaths of four children, state media reported.

The five companies were brought to Beijing to discuss the purchase of the company, the 21st Century Business Herald, a major business daily, reported Friday.

The government is trying to revive its dairy industry and contain the fallout after baby formula contaminated with melamine was blamed for the deaths of four infants and the sickening of about 54,000 other children in China.

The Health Ministry said Wednesday that 5,800 children were still hospitalized — six of them in serious condition. In Hong Kong, the Department of Health said Friday two more children have developed kidney stones after drinking melamine-laced milk, bringing to 10 the total number of children with milk-related kidney stones.

Sanlu, a majority state-owned company whose products were the most heavily tainted, is now largely defunct, with companies looking to scoop up its assets.

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