Quality supervision authorities in eastern China's Zhejiang Province have promised to issue a set of compulsory standards for plastic and paper food containers within the next month.

That announcement was the Zhejiang Bureau of Quality and Technical Supervision's first public response to media reports that some factories in the province's Yiwu City used recycled plastic - used compact discs - to produce baby bottles.

The bureau also announced the results of a recent inspection on the 1,146 food container makers across the province. The action uncovered 153 unqualified companies, according to a Zhejiang newspaper report yesterday.

Late last month, a quality supervision program on CCTV reported some factories in Yiwu, one of China's biggest small-commodities distribution centers, purchased reclaimed plastic from processing plants in Cixi, another Zhejiang city, as raw materials to produce baby bottles.

The bottles were found to contain twice the level of hydroxybenzene allowed by national standards. Hydroxybenzene is a toxic chemical that dissolves in heated milk and can cause liver and kidney damage.

The report drew Zhejiang authorities' attention to the issue. From May 28, a task force jointly formed by provincial and city authorities launched an inspection on the factories in Yiwu and Cixi, which were in the CCTV report.

(Shanghai Daily June 15, 2006)