China's top quality control agency on Friday banned imports of aquatic products from Indonesia, claiming many were found containing toxic substances and disease causing pathogens.

Quarantine officials had found Indonesian aquatic products tainted with mercury, chromium, the antibacterial drug nitrofural, and pathogens, the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (GAQSIQ) said.

The agency stated in a circular the tainted aquatic products have been returned or destroyed.

In the first six months, Chinese officials seized 121 batches of Indonesian foods ranging from aquatic products, palm oil, canned food to biscuits that contain excessive drug residues and food additives and harmful organisms, according to the AQSIO.

It cited examples, saying quarantine officials in the southern province of Guangdong had detected salmonella in frozen sea eels and listeria monocytogenes in frozen fish offal, while officials in the eastern city of Ningbo found forbidden citrine pigment in canned pineapples.

The GAQSIQ said local quarantine officials had returned or destroyed all the tainted products, without providing details of the brands and quantities of the goods and their producers.

It urged local authorities to step up quality inspections of Indonesian food imports and urged domestic importers to specify clearly food safety requirements with Indonesian exporters to reduce trade risks.

(Xinhua News Agency August 4, 2007)