China's Wahaha interested in buying tainted dairy producer

China's largest soft drinks maker, Wahaha, said Monday that it is interested in buying the dairy company at the origin of a nationwide scandal over contaminated milk.

A Wahaha spokesman said Wahaha Group Chairman Zong Qinhou had expressed an interest in taking over Sanlu Group, the dairy firm first found to be selling melamine-contaminated products.

It followed comments by Zong reported Monday in the Beijing News.

"Mr Zong did talk to some reporters about Wahaha's willingness to take over Sanlu," the spokesman Shan Qining told AFP.

Shan said he could not provide financial details or a timescale as to when Wahaha might make an offer.

State media say that Sanlu, which is 43 percent-owned by New Zealand dairy giant Fonterra, faces bankruptcy because of the scandal over the presence of melamine in dairy products.

The chemical is mainly used in making plastic, but when added illegally to milk it can make its protein content seem higher.

Four babies have died of kidney failure in China and more than 53,000 have been sickened after drinking tainted milk formulas, and contaminated Chinese dairy products have been discovered around the world.

Some of Sanlu's products, as well as those of other well-known dairy brands including Hong Kong-listed Mengniu Dairy, Shanghai-listed Bright Dairy and the Inner Mongolia Yili Industrial Group, have been found to contain melamine.