Worried mothers in China are going to great lengths to get their hands on imported milk, causing retailers in the UK and elsewhere to ration sales.
When a child is born in China, anxious new parents often prize one gift above all others: imported formula baby milk, usually hand-carried from overseas to ensure it's the real thing.
Fearful of the dangerous levels of hormones and chemicals sometimes found in Chinese baby formula, parents in mainland China often go to great lengths to secure foreign brands...
...Long-term breastfeeding is rare among Chinese mothers, who often doubt the quality of their breast milk.
Those who can afford it choose to buy imported formula over Chinese brands...
...In 2008, six infants died of severe kidney damage and an estimated 300,000 babies suffered painful kidney stones after drinking tainted baby formula.
After testing, formula from several major Chinese dairy companies was found to contain melamine, an additive that falsely boosts the protein levels in milk.
Since then, a regular stream of similar food safety crises has served to underline many parents' belief that food products stamped "Made in China" are unsafe for children.
Almost every product on Chinese supermarket shelves has been tainted by some sort of scandal in recent years, including bacteria-laden pork that glows in the dark and repackaged cooking oil siphoned from the gutters outside restaurants.
Milk formula scandals also continue to hit China's headlines.
In December 2011 and July 2012, two Chinese companies, Mengniu and Ava Dairy, recalled baby formula containing high amounts of aflatoxin, a carcinogen produced by fungus in cows' feed.
Last June, a third company, Yili Group, issued a separate recall after "unusually high" levels of mercury were found in its main line of infant milk powder.
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