Sept. 24 (Bloomberg) -- China's widening contaminated-milk scandal will make it more difficult for the country to export meat products to the U.S. for the first time, the top U.S. Department of Agriculture food-safety official said today.

The deaths of four infants and the 53,000 cases of illness are likely to result in more testing at the U.S. border and calls by legislators to add controls, Richard Raymond, head of the USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service, said in an interview in Beijing today.

Milk tainted with the industrial chemical melamine has implicated 22 Chinese companies, spurring countries from Japan to Indonesia to curb sales of dairy products. Melamine, used to tan leather and make plastic, can mask dilution in milk by falsely boosting protein content. The substance was also found in U.S. pet food last year and linked to Chinese suppliers.

``It's beyond belief what happened,'' said Raymond, who has authority over the safety of meat and poultry. ``You don't have to be a genius to figure out this is a whole lot worse than pet food. You better believe that melamine's going to be tested for in chemical residuals from all of the products that do come in from China.''

The health scandal has revived concern that China's product quality is flawed after the country last year signed agreements with the U.S. designed to boost food and drug safety. Melamine in pet food last year was blamed for killing thousands of cats and dogs in the U.S., while pesticide-tainted Chinese dumplings sickened at least 10 Japanese consumers earlier this year.

Import Controls

U.S. Lawmakers, including Representative Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut, a Democrat, campaigned to boost controls on Chinese imports in the wake of the previous cases of food contamination. No Chinese meat is currently imported into the U.S., Raymond said. Language in the bill that funds his agency blocks the USDA from moving forward on approving the first such product, cooked Chinese poultry. The milk scandal is likely to foster extensions of such bans, he said.

The U.S. has not followed international standards in treating Chinese exports of poultry meat, seafood and horticultural products, China's Vice Minister of Agriculture Niu Dun said in a statement on the ministry's Web site. The U.S. stance has ``inhibited the healthy and stable development of China-U.S. agricultural trade,'' Niu said in the statement, which described his meeting with Raymond yesterday.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao has ordered an overhaul of the dairy industry, and China's chief quality supervisor was replaced earlier this week. Sixteen countries have banned Chinese milk products or recalled them from stores, including Singapore, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand and Thailand.

``It causes one to step back and take a look, and it makes us feel that we need to do more verification at the border,'' Raymond said.

Increased Inspections

China has ordered increased inspections of imported and exported animal feed. The number of potentially tainted products has expanded daily, with Malaysia seizing chocolates, biscuits and candies from stores along with Chinese dairy products, and Hong Kong asking retailers to stop selling a type of candy and a line of cakes because of high melamine levels.

``We understand the concerns of these countries and regions,'' Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Jiang Yusaid yesterday. ``Chinese authorities are willing to cooperate.''

Raymond said China needs to reassure its trading partners before food exports can grow.

``The changes that are taking place, I would hope that that brings a spirit and revived energy for China to take a look at this incident and say, `this is it, we need to do a better job if we want to be a player in the food supply in the world, we need to reassure our partners that we take this very seriously,''' he said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Dune Lawrence in Beijing at dlawrence6@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: September 24, 2008 08:09 EDT