Cadbury, the British confectionery giant, is the latest victim of a tainted milk scandal that has left at least four babies dead in China and the company has withdrawn 11 chocolate products made in Beijing.

The company said that tests on items from Cadbury Eclairs and bulk packets of Dairy Milk had raised concerns and the sweets sold in mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Australia had been recalled as a precautionary step.

Cadbury Asia Pacific said: ‘We have received results that cast doubt on the integrity of a range of our products manufactured in China.”

Other items possibly affected are dark and milk chocolate, hazelnut and praline chocolate, dark Chocettes and products made especially for the Chinese New Year which falls in February. Only the Cadbury Eclair line was sold in Australia, but an array of the company’s chocolates are available widely in Chinese cities.

The Hong Kong government said that their laboratories would check the products for melamine. A spokesman for Cadbury in London said: “The withdrawal is due to concern about the possibility of melamine contamination in our chocolate.”

The scandal has widened rapidly across the world since Fonterra, the New Zealand partner of the Chinese dairy producer Sanlu Group, prompted its Government to blow the whistle on an attempted cover up of the tainted milk.

An estimated 53,000 children across China have fallen ill after being fed Sanlu milk powder and 13,000 have been treated in hospital for kidney stones and other kidney and organ problems after drinking formula laced with melamine.

The melamine was mixed into diluted milk at collecting stations in an attempt to boost the protein levels and to bamboozle tests since melamine — used in the manufacture of plastics and glue — contains high levels of nitrogen that shows up as a protein.

More than 800 police raided 41 sites around the Hebei provincial capital of Shijiazhuang, arresting 22 people in a network engaged in selling melamine, state media said today. Police seized more than 222 kg (488 pounds) of melamine. The Xinhua news agency said: “According to police investigation, melamine was produced in underground plants and then sold to breeding farms and purchasing stations.”

It was not clear if these arrests were in addition to 18 reported since the scandal broke in early September. Officials have also dismissed and detained the head of the Sanlu Group, which Fonterra has said may never be able to revive its brand.

Chinese reporters have discovered that Sanlu knew about the problems with its baby formula months ago but at first tried to avoid a recall. Then the state-run media avoided reporting the story in line with strict rules issued by China’s censors on preventing bad news emerging during the Beijing Olympics in August.

Last week, Cadbury said three factories from which it sources its dairy ingredient supplies in China had been tested by the Government and no melamine had been found.

However, a growing list of Chinese milk and milk-related products have been removed from shelves around the world in recent weeks as the scandal has spread. Several countries in Africa and Asia that distributed Sanlu formula — once one of China’s premier brands — have halted imports.

Last week, Tesco removed China’s iconic White Rabbit milk sweet from shelves in Britain and within days the Shanghai-based manufacturer founded in 1943 said that it was halting production, at least temporarily, while checks were made.

Among other Western food groups with operations in China, the world’s biggest, Nestlé, and France’s Danone have said that all their products have been cleared by the Chinese authorities. Unilever said that all its milk powder for its Chinese Walls ice cream operation was sourced outside China.

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