The government will test fruit and vegetables imported from China following reports that they may contain the industrial chemical melamine, Health Minister Liow Tiong Lai said today.

"It is a precautionary measure on our side," Liow told reporters.

"We are on high alert with this issue and will zoom in on whatever news we receive for now," he said.

China is a major trading partner and exports a large variety of vegetables and fruits to Malaysia including potatoes, cabbage and cauliflower.

Liow said vegetables could have been contaminated by melamine through fertilizers and pesticides.

The industrial chemical has so far been found only in dairy and milk products in the widening food safety scandal in China which erupted after Chinese children began falling ill from drinking tainted milk.

Malaysia has placed a ban on all Chinese dairy products, including candies, chocolates and all food containing milk.

Milk tainted with melamine has sickened some 53,000 children and killed four in China as well as exposing the nation's lax food safety standards - leading to import curbs on some Chinese products as far away as South America.

- AFP