Authorities were ordered to screen all milk products in the market

Colombo High Courts ordered the health ministry to take random samples of milk products in the Sri Lankan market and send them for testing to ALS laboratories in Singapore.

Health authorities were also ordered to determine the acceptable concentration of melamine in milk products and inform the judiciary.

The judiciary made the ruling after considering an appeal against an order by Colombo magistrate court to close the Edna chocolate company.

Edna products

On Tuesday high courts ordered the Consumer Affairs Authority (CAA) to seal all milk powder stocks imported from China by Edna Company and test them for melamine.

	Edna was ordered not to produce or distribute chocolates

Ordering the attorney general (AG) and the police criminal investigation department (CID) to assist the investigation, the judiciary warned that any interference in the investigation will be considered as contempt of court.

However, the high court issued an interim order against the closure of Edna company until 04 November.

The Edna company was also ordered not to produce or distribute chocolates until further notice.

In China, at least four children were killed and over 50,000 were hospitalised after they consumed melamine contaminated milk products.

One thousand five hundred dogs at a breeding centre in China have died after eating feed tainted with the chemical melamine.

Correspondents say its detection in animal feed has raised questions in China about how far the contamination extends.