Seven batches of imported products failed to meet safety standards, including three shipments of kitchen utensils and tableware from China with excessive amounts of heavy metals, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said yesterday.
Fashion brand Zara Home porcelain bowls contained lead levels of about 10 parts per million (ppm), the FDA said in a statement.
The limit for lead content for bowls of that type is 5ppm, it said.
Photo: Chung Li-hua, Taipei Times
The bowls were the only batch of the brand out of 257 imported that did not meet safety standards, the FDA said.
Officials would increase the test sampling rate on bowls of the brand to 20-to-50 percent from 2-to-10 percent, the agency said.
A shipment from China of foldable cooking utensils under the Mun’s & brand failed plastic residue tests, with excess residue levels detected after exposure to hot water, acetic acid and ethanol, it said.
Yen Tzung-hai (顏宗海), director of the Clinical Poison Center at Linkou Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, said that glaze or paint used to color porcelain might contain lead, which can damage the heart or kidneys, impair motor functions, and cause chronic fatigue or numbness in the extremities.
Children are especially vulnerable to lead poisoning, Yen said.
The public should be careful when buying colored porcelain or bowls to protect their health, he said.
In other imports, citrus fruits from Japan, dried parsley from India and oranges from the US had excess agricultural chemicals, while a shipment of deer antler extract from China contained bleach, the FDA said.
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