Chinese chocolate-flavoured sex paint pulled off Oz shelves over toxic fears
30 Oct 2008, 1633 Hrs

Add comment          Mail          Print          Write to Editor

Melbourne, Oct 30 Australian markets have pulled a chocolate-flavoured body sex paint off the shelves as authorities continue the crack down on melamine imports from China.

Six other items, besides the paint, Boxer Lovers Body Pen Set, have already been banned.

The banned items include Lotte Koala Biscuits, Cadbury Eclairs, Kirin Milk Tea, Orion Tiramisu Italian Cake, Dali Yuan brand First Milk, and White Rabbit Creamy Candy.

It had earlier been discovered that Chinese food manufacturers were using melamine, a nitrogen-rich chemical used in the plastics industry, in their livestock feed and baby milk formulas, to give them an appearance of having higher protein content.

It was revealed that products contaminated with melamine have killed at least four children and made about 53,000 ill in mainland China.

The recall for the paint was made voluntarily by its importer, and it was done after advice from Canadian and UK authorities, whose test results showed low levels of melamine in the sex paint product.

Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) spokeswoman Lydia Buchtmann said that those who had consumed the body paint product were not likely to be affected unless large quantities were consumed.

"Our advice is that consumers shouldn't consume it and if they have, it they should dispose of it safely," the Daily Telegraph quoted Buchtmann as saying.

"It is a very low risk, you'd have to consume a high quantity over a long period of time to become ill," she added.

Buchtmann said that both FSANZ and international authorities' test results had established that there was no evidence of melamine contamination of fruit and vegetables grown in China and imported to Australia. (ANI)