Thirteen percent of all chilli products in China have failed safety tests, the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine announced on Sunday.

The quality watchdog said it had inspected 46 chilli products produced by 38 firms in 12 provinces and municipalities, including Beijing, Shanghai and Jiangsu, and had found excessive amounts of preservatives in 13 percent of the products.

"The products produced by small firms have lots of safety problems, while those from large and middle-sized ones have all passed the safety tests," it said.

The main safety problems were excessive preservatives and labeling that did not comply with government regulations, it stated.

The administration also found that 8 percent of dried vegetables and dried fruits had failed safety tests after inspecting 50 such products from 48 companies in six provinces and municipalities.

Their main problem was that they contained excessive decolourant and sulfur dioxide, the watchdog added.

(Xinhua News Agency June 11, 2007)