'Safe to drink' but maker of Jiugui issues an apology (2)

The General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine said on Wednesday that tests conducted by its Hunan branch found that liquor samples from Jiugui contained a level of 1.04 milligrams of dibutyl phthalate (DBP), a kind of plasticizer, per kilogram. The figure is much higher than the 0.3 mg per kg standard, a regulatory limit set by the Ministry of Health in June 2011, Xinhua news agency reported.

Xinhua said it had been 17 months since the China Alcoholic Drinks Association knew liquor products contained plasticizer, but that fact was only made public after media reports about Jiugui surfaced this week.

Following those reports, the liquor company based in Hunan Province had said its products were safe and denied reports of excess plasticizers.

It also said that the media reports had caused "confusion and misunderstanding" among its customers.

It admitted that DBP had been found, but said the substance would not harm health, if it was drunk "properly." But it didn't define "properly" and there are no indications on its products of what is a recommended daily amount.

According to CCTV and Xinhua, officials with the country's quality supervision administration, the health ministry and the national food safety evaluation center told reporters the potential harm of plasticizers depended on the amount consumed and over which period of time.

We recommend:
Yangtze River Highway Bridge in Taizhou to open	Shoemaker not subject to 16.5% tariff by EU	Shanxi to build four large coking industry parks slows
AVIC unveils new aircraft engines	China's MA700 to take flight in 2016	13th Int'l Automobile Industry Exhibition
China Int'l Industry Fair opens in Shanghai	Caofeidian coal wharf put into use	Galaxy Soho building in Beijing