Beijing consumers are being warned to watch out for falsely labeled "organic" food, which could account for about 10 percent of all sales of "green" food in the capital according to a survey conducted by the Beijing Consumers Association.

The association released the report on Monday, the eve of World Consumer Rights Day.

In a random selection of 268 goods labeled "organic," including rice, oil, eggs, vegetables and drinks, 25 samples were falsely labeled.

Some of the food was produced by companies not certified to produce organic foods, such as milk from a Heilongjiang-based company and rice from a producer in Hebei.

Some companies place organic food labels on items that look similar to genuine organic products, the association claimed. Regulations require recertification every three years.

The city's consumers association called on the government to improve supervision of organic food. Many people have been increasingly concerned about numerous food safety problems, such as the overuse of pesticides, growth hormones in animal feed and unsafe food additives, and turn to organic products because they feel they are safer.

The association is holding a number of activities to increase awareness of consumers' rights, including providing expert legal and product quality advice.

By the end of 2004, the association had received more than 20,000 complaints from consumers, 97 percent of which were resolved, resulting in compensation of more than 22.5 million yuan (US$2.7 million) to consumers.

The complaints mainly concerned after-sales service (40 percent of the total), quality (28 percent) and contract disputes (12 percent).

In the past, most Chinese consumers silently tolerated violations of their rights. Awareness is now growing and people are developing a greater sense of self-protection.

In a related development, on Monday the Chinese Consumers Association warned people who still use old-style water heaters to scrap the machines because of safety risks.

The old gas-fired water heaters, which discharge waste gases directly into rooms, can cause fatal accidents from carbon monoxide poisoning. More than 1,000 such accidents occurred last year.

The selling of old-style water heaters was banned in 2000, but nearly 10 million of them are still in use around the country.

World Consumer Rights Day is an annual event to promote the basic rights of all consumers, for demanding that those rights are respected and protected and for protesting abuses and injustices that undermine them. The event was first observed on March 15, 1983.

(China.org.cn, China Daily March 15, 2005)