JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) -- Two U.S. foodmakers were investigating Indonesian claims Monday that high traces of melamine were found in Oreo wafers, M&Ms and Snickers imported from China.
Indonesia's Food and Drug Monitoring Agency said a dozen allegedly tainted products distributed nationwide, including those popular brands, had repeatedly tested positive last week.
Kraft Foods Inc. and Mars Inc. said they were adhering to a recall order, but stressed the same products were cleared of melamine in other Asian countries. They were looking into explanations, including the possibility that the goods could be counterfeit.
The companies said they would conduct their own tests with outside experts.
"We have asked our trade partners and retailers to suspend the sales of our products in accordance to the agency's order," Mars Indonesia spokesman Bondan Ardi told The Associated Press on Monday.
Kraft said in a statement it understood the government's measures and will "support their advocacy on behalf of consumers."
"We are trying to understand what methodology was used," Tod Gimbel, Kraft's director of corporate affairs for the Asia Pacific, told the AP by phone from Singapore. "The results are unusually high."
The Indonesian agency did not say how widespread the contamination might be.
Indonesia stepped up testing of Chinese food imports foods after melamine-tainted milk was blamed in the deaths of four infants and sickened more than 54,000 children in China.
