April 11/Beijing/China Digital Times -- Amid concerns over food safety, China’s food and drug agency is defending itself against accusations of excessive lead in spirulina, a microalgae taken as a nutritional supplement. The SFDA has struggled to recover its reputation since a former commissioner was executed in 2007 for taking bribes. A string of food and drug safety problems since then, from shoddy medicine to melamine-tainted milk formula that killed six babies in 2008, further eroded public trust in the regulators overseeing China’s food and drug safety.
The agency said it stands by the March 30 results of an inspection of more than a dozen spirulina brands that found only one containing excessive lead and arsenic. The problem brand was Conthealthy sold by the Xingfulai Pharmaceutical Group in Fujian province.