Chinas government is warning that dumplings being sold for a popular festival this week might contain toxic chemicals used to keep their bamboo leaf wrappings bright green. A spot check of merchants selling steamed dumplings for the Dragon Boat Festival on Wednesday found that many used copper sulphate or copper chloride, the China Daily newspaper said.

The dumplings, known as zongzi, are made of glutinous rice filled with red bean paste and wrapped in bamboo leaves. Chinese eat millions of them to mark the Dragon Boat Festival. "The worst chemicals might lead to cancer or renal failure" Shen Xiangkun, an expert from the Food Research Institute in the populous central province of Henan, was quoted as saying.

The official China Consumer Association warned that normal leaves used to wrap dumplings for steaming are dark green, while bright green leaves might contain dangerous chemicals, the report said. The newspaper didn`t say whether the government was taking any action to keep tainted dumplings off the market.

China suffers frequent cases of injuries and deaths from tainted or counterfeit food, ranging from bean curd made with paint to fake whiskey that contains industrial alcohol.
(Associated Press, 29/05/2006)
http://edition.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/asiapcf/05/29/toxic.dumplings.ap/index.html