Irish dairy companies may be set to benefit from a backlash among Chinese mothers against locally produced infant formula.

The country is reeling from one of its biggest ever food safety incidents, in which milk powder made by the biggest domestic brand, Sanlu, left three babies dead and more than 50,000 infants ill.

The product had been contaminated with the industrial chemical melamine.

Thousands of tonnes of infant formula have been pulled from supermarket shelves, and foreign brands like Wyeth now dominate the market. "Our sales have grown significantly in the last two weeks," said Qing Xi, spokesman for Wyeth China, adding that he did not yet have precise figures.

"Our Shanghai plant has already reached full capacity so we're importing more. It either comes from Ireland or Singapore."

Abbott, another major brand with its largest manufacturing plant in Cootehill, Co Cavan, has also seen increased demand.

"We are making changes in our inventory to meet that demand," said spokeswoman Tracey Noe.

"All of our product in China is imported from the Abbott plant in Cootehill."

Foreign infant formula brands are too pricey for many Chinese who bought the lower-end Sanlu products but analysts expect wealthier Chinese to trade up to foreign formula.

"Chinese consumers don't trust any local brands now. This makes it a great opportunity for big foreign brands," said Chen Lian Fang, analyst at Beijing-based agribusiness consultancy BOABC. That in turn would boost ingredient exporters like Dairygold, Ireland's largest, which supply the multinationals as well as Chinese formula makers.

The Chinese brands are expected to promote more premium products.

"We expect there would be an increase," said Kieran Evans, head of international sales at Dairygold.

China's infant nutrition market is considered one of the most promising for dairy ingredient firms across Europe and the US.

Rapid urbanisation in recent years has seen demand for convenient foods – including formula – surge, and formula makers say there is room for growth.

Dairygold's exports to China – some 3,000 to 4,000 tonnes of whey-based products – are already growing by 20% each year.