A total of 2,719 consignments of imported food and cosmetics were rejected in the first seven months of this year, the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ) said on Tuesday.

The products included batches of Ausnutria baby milk formula that was found to contain the Enterobacter sakazakii bacteria, it said.

Of the rejected goods, 191 consignments were discovered during inbound tests, the AQSIQ said.

The tainted baby milk, manufactured by Australia's Ausnutria Dairy Co Ltd, was discovered on June 10 by the Hunan provincial quality supervision and inspection bureau.

While the bacteria is not usually harmful to adults, it can cause intestinal diseases in infants, experts said.

However, no such cases have been reported in the country.

Dairy products imported from the United States were also found to have quality issues, including 4,338 pounds of brie and five other kinds of cheese that were found to contain excessive coliform bacteria.

Officials from the Beijing quality supervision bureau also discovered more than 36 tons of almonds from the US that contained excessive amounts of peroxide.

Under Chinese law, imported products rejected for safety or health reasons must be destroyed by the importers or returned to the exporting country.

Meanwhile, Japan said on Tuesday that the 4,090 bags of frozen kidney beans produced in China that were recalled last month tested free of a poisonous substance.

On Oct 15, Japanese media reported that a woman was poisoned and required hospital treatment after eating frozen kidney beans imported from China. In response, Japanese supermarkets pulled the beans from their shelves.

Investigations later showed that the beans contained a high amount of dimethyl dichloro-vinyl phosphate.

Tokyo police said that to date, only the beans bought by the woman were found to be tainted, the Xinhua News Agency reported on Wednesday.

(China Daily November 6, 2008)