Disposable tableware is a serious health hazard, experts warned yesterday, after half of such products were found to be made of unsafe material.

The warning follows several years of a nationwide investigation by the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine.

Details of the study will be released soon, according to a report on www.xinhuanet.com yesterday.

An excessive amount of recycled plastic and unsafe materials are used to produce throwaway tableware, including boxes, bowls and spoons, said Dong Jinshi, vice-director of the Packing Resources Utilization Commission of the China Packing Association. He has been closely associated with the investigation.

Overuse of recycled plastic and materials such as talcum powder and calcium carbonate can generate chemicals that can cause cancer if they come in contact with hot food and oil. And if industrial paraffin wax is used in the manufacturing process, it can be carcinogenic.

Chemicals such as acetic acid dissolve in food and then affect the digestive system and liver function if such products are used over a long time, Dong said.

The unsafe materials are widely used in place of polypropylene, which should account for up to about 80 per cent of the product for it to be safe.

However, the investigation found that polypropylene makes up only half the amount of raw materials, mainly because it is far more expensive.

One ton of polypropylene costs 11,000 yuan (US$1,300) while the same quantity of unsafe materials are available for less than 2,000 yuan (US$240).

Dong said that in the more than 100 enterprise places he visited in Tianjin and Shanghai municipalities and Henan and Liaoning provinces, 60 per cent of the products are not suitable for human use.

Laggard market supervision, light punishment for violators and poor co-ordination between different departments involved in quality control are the main reasons for the present situation, Dong said.

Chinese consume about 6.5 billion pieces of disposable plastic tableware annually.

The quality control authorities have recently intensified the drive to ensure safety of food-related products.

Plastic food wrappers containing a dangerous material DEHA were banned nationwide late last month.

DEHA is a plasticizer which makes the PVC material pliable.

(China Daily 11/03/2005 page1)