The government today banned 18 brands of dried fruits imported from China, Taiwan and several other Asian countries that contained lead above permitted levels.

Health Minister Liow Tiong Lai said the dried fruits, among them dried plums and prunes, contained high lead content of between 0.11 and 30.3 parts per million (ppm) or milligram (mg)/kilogramme (kg).

He said the level of lead set was two ppm or mg/kg under Regulation 38 of the Food Regulations 1985 and if the content exceeded that level action would be taken.

"If charged under Section 13(1) of the Food Act 1983 one can be fined not more than RM100,000 or jailed for not more than 10 years or both," he told reporters after officiating the Health Ministry Management Conference 2009 today.

Liow said this when asked to comment on a U.S. Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) report on their website titled "Consumers Warned Not to Eat Certain Imported Dried Plums" on Oct 1.

http://www.fda.gov

Liow said the products concerned were "The Original Chinese Candy Plums with Pickle and Lemon Saladitos Con Pepino Y Limon", "Its Fruit Chinese Style Dried Prune Saladito", "Saladitos 6 Count", "Salted Plum Suckers", Plum wrapped "Candy", "Saladitos Salted Prunes", "Salados Salted dried plums", "Hua Ho Ying Tzu" and "Chinese Candy".

The other products are "7 Salted Plums 7 Saladitos", "Saladitos Chinese Candy", "Preserved Liquoriced Prune", "Preserved Plums:Preserved Salted Prunes", "Preserved Plums", "Preserved Red Prunes", "Preserved Fruit Pitted Prunes", "Chan Pui Mui Preserved Plum" and "Ka Po Preserved Plum".

Liow said his ministry will continue to monitor to ensure the products were not in the local market.

Children will be affected

He said the ministry will also monitor the country's entry points by putting inspection at Level Five (Detain, Test and Release) in the Food Safety Information System of Malaysia (FoSIM) for the products concerned.

Lead is a pollutant in food that can cause health problems in the long run by accumulation.

Liow said the problems that may occur were nervous system disorders and distortion to drain development, especially in children.

"In that regard, the ministry advises consumers not to buy these products and sellers are advised to report to the nearest district health office or the state health department if they have stock," he said.

Liow said importers or agents who import the products concerned were asked to stop distribution and inform the nearest health or district office for further action.

- Bernama