TAIPEI, Oct 2, 2008 (AFP) - Taiwan's health minister said Thursday six Nestle milk products found tainted with melamine were banned from sale.

'The products from (the Chinese province of) Heilongjiang were tested for very low levels of melamine and removed from the shelves,' said health minister Yeh Ching-chuan.

The products, manufactured by Heilongjiang-based Shuangcheng Nestle Co and sold under the labels Nestle and Klim, include forumlas for children and the elderly, according to the health department.

This added to a growing list of tainted Chinese-made dairy products found on the island, including milk, creamers, instant coffee, soups and sweets.

Taiwan has banned all Chinese dairy imports following the tainted milk scandal there and ordered those already imported to be tested for melamine.

Around 10 percent of Taiwan's imported milk powder came from China and authorities here have seized nearly 10 tonnes of formula produced by Sanlu Group, the Chinese company originally at the centre of the health scare.

A Taiwanese hospital last week said three toddlers and one woman have developed kidney stones after drinking tainted Chinese milk products, in the island's first confirmed cases.

Four children have died in China and 53,000 were sickened after consuming milk products laced with an industrial chemical.