Health Highlights: Nov. 16, 2008

It's believed that dairy suppliers in China add melamine to watered-down milk to make it appear rich in protein. The chemical can cause kidney stones and potentially fatal kidney failure.

While the FDA often halts the importation of individual food products, it rarely blocks an entire category of foods from one country. Last year, the FDA stopped the importation of five types of farm-raised seafood as well as vegetable protein from China because of contamination from unapproved animal drugs and food additives, the newspaper said.

Earlier this month, Chinese officials said they had uncovered more evidence that melamine was widespread in the nation's animal feed supplies. BBC News reported that the addition of melamine to animal feed in China was likely routine and an "open secret," according to reports published in several state-run newspapers in China.