China finds problems with kids' snack foods

Officials check some 90 barrels of bean sprouts at a workshop without a business licence in Xiamen, in southeast China's Fujian province. The workshop was found to have used bleaching powder to lighten the color of the bean sprouts.

BEIJING - Chinese inspectors found dozens of children’s snacks that failed food standards and seized hundreds of bottles of fake human blood protein from hospitals, officials said Tuesday.

China’s dismal health and safety record — both within and outside its borders — has increasingly come under the spotlight as its goods make their way to global markets. Major buyers like the United States, Japan and the European Union have pushed Beijing to improve inspections.

Inspectors in southwest China’s Guangxi region found excessive additives and preservatives in nearly 40 percent of 100 children’s snacks sampled during the second quarter of 2007, according to a report on China’s central government Web site.