State-controlled CCTV said in its nightly news broadcast that a Cabinet meeting chaired by Premier Wen Jiabao also called the dairy market "chaotic," as the number of affected babies rose sharply.

"(The scandal) has shown us that the dairy market is chaotic, flaws exist in supervision mechanisms, and supervision work is weak," the report said in summarising the conclusions of the meeting.

Chinese officials said earlier on Wednesday that more than 6,000 babies had fallen ill and three died after drinking milk powder laced with an industrial chemical, and vowed massive efforts to contain the widening scandal.

Authorities say a total of 22 companies were found to have melamine in their milk powder, and those products would be recalled.

The government had previously put the blame squarely on dairy businesses.

"We must conscientiously absorb lessons from this in order to take a more responsible attitude toward the people, handle this incident properly, and improve and strengthen our inspection and supervision work," CCTV said in its account of the Cabinet meeting.

The scandal is the latest to rock China's food industry, already tarnished in recent years by a series of health scares over dangerous products, some of which have been exported.

Melamine also was also found in Chinese pet food exported to the United States last year that killed dogs and cats.

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