China faces crib recall amid tainted milk scandal

BEIJING (Reuters) - China, embroiled in a tainted milk scandal that has made thousand of infants sick, said it took product safety very seriously, especially where children were concerned, after a new report about faulty Chinese-made cribs.

New York-based Delta Enterprises recalled on Monday almost 1.6 million cribs made in China, Indonesia and Taiwan after it said two babies died. It did not give details.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said he had no information on the cribs but urged consumers and producers to report faulty products.

"I can say the Chinese government takes product safety very seriously, especially when it comes to children's products," he told a news conference, adding that China would act on any complaints.

The China National Furniture Association told Reuters it was not aware of the recall, but said Chinese companies may not be the ones to blame.

"It's not clear which side should take responsibility," said association deputy director-general Zhu Changling. "It's possible that the safety risks lay in the designs or standards made by clients, while Chinese companies were just following up."

The crib recall is one of the largest in U.S. history and follows another recall of 2,000 cribs, also made in China, which was issued by the Consumer Product Safety Commission on Thursday.

It comes about a year after a massive recall of Chinese toys tainted with lead and sold by Mattel Inc.

More recently, milk contaminated with melamine killed at least four children and prompted Chinese-made products to be pulled from shelves around the world. Tens of thousands of children fell ill with kidney stones.

(Reporting by Chris Buckley and Yu Le; Writing by Nick Macfie)