Chinese take-out containers called unsafe

BEIJING, March 28 (UPI) -- About half of the disposable food containers and dishware used by restaurants and take-outs in China is unsafe with cancer causing chemicals, an expert warns.

The conclusion was made after a 9-year research project conducted by Dong Jinshi, vice-president of the Hong Kong-based International Food Packaging Association (IFPA) in conjunction with China's General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, Xinhua reported.

China's state-run news agency said Friday members of Dong's team went into two famous Beijing restaurants requesting disposable dishware and sent the samples to the Beijing Center for Physical and Chemical Analysis.

Test results March 3 showed the boxes contained excessive amounts of minerals such as talcum powder and ceresin wax which contains a substance that can cause cancer.

China has banned the sale and use of disposable dishware made of foam, because they're usually made of plastic waste material, Xinhua said.

Dong and his team had filed a lawsuit against the two restaurants accusing them of selling poisonous foods.

"This will be the first case in which the newly issued Food Safety Law will come into play in consumer rights protection," Dong's lawyer, Zhang Zhisheng said.