The tally of children sickened by tainted milk in China jumped to nearly 53,000 as the government vowed to crack down on those responsible for the scandal, which has raised more questions about the safety of the country's food chain. More than 80 percent of the 12,892 children hospitalized in recent weeks were 2 years old or younger, the Health Ministry said in a statement posted on its Web site late Sunday. The statement said most consumed infant formula from one company, the Shijiazhuang Sanlu Group Co., the dairy at the center of one of China's worst food safety scandals in years. Another 39,965 children received outpatient treatment at hospitals and were considered "basically recovered,'' the ministry said. Over the weekend, the Chinese territory of Hong Kong reported the first known illness outside mainland China a 3-year-old girl who developed kidney stones after drinking Chinese dairy products. Taiwan bans imports of Chinese milk products Taiwan has banned further imports of Chinese milk products after a scandal over contaminated baby formula that has sickened thousands of children on the mainland, officials here said Monday. "All Chinese milk products, whatever their brands, are not allowed to be imported immediately," said Wang Chih-chao, an official of the Department of Health."There is no timeframe for the ban." Hong Kong retailers pull China milk products off shelves Major retailers in Hong Kong said Monday they had pulled more dairy products off their shelves after samples tested positive for a toxic chemical that has sickened 13,000 babies in China. Supermarket chain Wellcome said it emptied its shelves of all milk powder products from Nestle, plastic-bottled Dutch Lady milk, and canned Mr Brown coffee, following reports they were tainted with melamine.