China caps levels of more food contaminants

BEIJING - China's Ministry of Health on Tuesday announced new caps on levels of 13 contaminants in 20 categories of food.

The newly amended standards will come into effect on June 1.

They limit the content of contaminants including lead, cadmium, mercury and arsenic that can legally be allowed in food including grains, vegetables, fruit, meat, drinks, alcohol, aquatic products and seasoning.

Previous limits on selenium, aluminum, and fluorine were deleted in the amendment.

The MOH also said it will streamline 5,000 existing safety standards applying to agricultural produce and food products by the end of 2013.

The Chinese public has become increasingly concerned over food safety after a slew of scares -- from melamine-tainted baby formula to pork contaminated with clenbuterol.

In a serious case of heavy metal pollution in Liuyang of Central China's Hunan province in 2009, cadmium-containing pollutants from a chemical plant affected more than 500 people and polluted the land within a radius of 500 to 1,200 meters of the plant.