Twelve food products from the United States have been put on a 90-day import alert after they were found to be unfit for human consumption, the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ) said Tuesday.

The products include chocolate, candy, cheese, almonds, juices, whey powder and health care products, it said on its website.

The chocolate was found to contain Quinoline Yellow, a food dye banned in China, while most of the other products were found to contain excessive amounts of food additives or preservatives, the statement said.

The "substandard products", all of which have either been returned or destroyed, were found during border quality checks in Shanghai, Beijing and Guangdong, it said.

The border checks have been tightened on these products from the US after the import alert was issued over the weekend, anAQSIQ official told China Daily on Tuesday.

"Whether we'll take any further action depends on the situation in the next three months," she said.

The AQSIQ said it has already provided the US with detailed reports on the substandard products, and would like to strengthen dialogue and cooperation with it on food safety issues. The import alert comes a day after the issue of another alert on five food items - chocolate, brandy, flavoring ingredients, soybean powder and dairy products - from the European Union.

"I think these alerts are common. They show the food safety problem is not unique to China, but a shared one in the world," Chen Min, a professor with the food science and nutritional engineering school of China Agricultural University, said.

Experts said the high-profile announcements show China is becoming more transparent and active in making the public aware of substandard products from overseas, although the AQSIQ said the issue of these alerts is normal practice within its authority.

"China usually played down information about substandard food imports, but apparently these announcements show the government is changing its strategy," Dong Jinshi, a food safety expert with the International Food Packaging Association, said.

(China Daily December 10, 2008)