Authorities in Beijing have halted the sale of 31 brands of bottled water after they failed safety tests, the government reported, in the latest such scare to hit China.
Random market inspections found bacteria colonies in the water, the Beijing Administration for Industry and Commerce said on its Web site, citing a joint study with the capital’s product quality bureau.
“In order to prevent these substandard products from entering the distribution chain, the product quality bureau has taken measures to halt sales,” the administration said in a statement on Wednesday.
Tests on one brand of bottled water — Yiqun — found that bacteria levels were 9,000 times above safety standards, while those in Tianxing Special Water were 560 times higher, a report in the state-run Beijing Times said.
The tests were carried out on large barrels of water and did not include the smaller bottles of water normally bought in supermarkets, the report said.
Drinking the tainted water could lead to bouts of diarrhea, dizziness and vomiting, it added.
Part of the problems stemmed from quality controls at factories, including the failure to clean and sterilize water pipes, and replace and disinfect filters, the paper said.
China is regularly hit by food scares. In 2008, authorities found that milk tainted with melamine killed at least six babies and left more than 300,000 sick with kidney stones, in a scandal that caused huge outrage.
Tainted pork, toxic milk, dyed buns, melons laden with chemicals have also surfaced in recent months, highlighting a lack of oversight in China’s huge food industry.
In May, China’s top court ordered capital punishment for food safety crimes that result in fatalities, as the government metes out harsher penalties amid rising social discontent over tainted foodstuffs.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of
A prominent Christian leader has allegedly been stabbed at the altar during a Mass yesterday in southwest Sydney. Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel was saying Mass at Christ The Good Shepherd Church in Wakeley just after 7pm when a man approached him at the altar and allegedly stabbed toward his head multiple times. A live stream of the Mass shows the congregation swarm forward toward Emmanuel before it was cut off. The church leader gained prominence during the COVID-19 pandemic, amassing a large online following, Officers attached to Fairfield City police area command attended a location on Welcome Street, Wakeley following reports a number