Two contaminatd baby bath products detected by the Hong Kong Consumer Council is shown to the public at a press conference Monday. Fu Lei / China Daily

The Hong Kong Consumer Council reports what it calls "strikingly excessive" levels of bacteria in two expensive baby bath products. The bacteria were revealed in a recent test of over 50 samples of shampoos and body washes for babies and children.

A product named Hypoallergenic Mild Baby Shampoo with Camomile and Panthenol contained a level of bacteria 59 times higher than the upper limit set by mainland regulators. The product was manufactured in Australia by NUK, a brand with head offices in Germany.

The other product, Swiss Natural Baby Bath, under the Swiss brand Balma-Baby, contained the same contaminant 14 times higher than is allowed under regulations.

The prices per 10 millimeters of the two imports, respectively HK$6.3 and HK$3.7, are far above the average of HK$2.8 for all samples.

"The excess of bacterial colonies is surely unacceptable, (at levels) which may expose open wounds and delicate areas such as eyes or genital areas to disease," Philip Leung, a staff member for publicity affairs of the council, said at a monthly press conference Monday.

"They are illegal. The customs will take action on both problematic products," he added.

The council has alerted the Hong Kong Customs and Excise Department concerning the test results, said Connie Lau, chief executive of the council.

The Customs Department responded that the NUK distributor had recalled the contaminated batch. No significant excess had been traced in another batch of the Balma-Baby product tested by the government, according to the council's monthly Choice Magazine, published on Monday.

Both NUK and Balma-Baby have confirmed the presence of contamination but said it occurred only in isolated batches. Managers at both companies said they will not discontinue the sale of the products, despite the inevitable impact resulting from the findings.

Sally Chan, product manager of NUK's Hong Kong branch, said in a telephone interview Monday afternoon that the company had recalled all 200 bottles of bacteria-containing shampoo, which had an expiry date of September 2010.

The expensive brand has distributed its products at major Japanese-style shopping malls in Hong Kong, such as Jusco and the Wing On Department Store.

"Next time, we will take our products to the laboratory for chemical examination before putting them on the market," said Chan.

Ling Hui, market manager in charge of Balma-Baby's distribution in Hong Kong, admitted the mistake but showed confidence about the future quality of the products in an interview Monday afternoon.

"We did not smell out problems until our second selective examination over the contaminated products we received from Swiss producers in April," she said.

The company had recalled around 100 bottles of the body wash distributed among company branch stores in a number of shopping malls, she said.

Hui welcomed customers calls to the company hotline at 6172-3312 concerning refunds or exchanges.

"It was our fault for being careless. The Swiss side has made apology, promising it will never happen," she said.

She ascribed the contamination to time required for the products to be shipped by sea. She said the company has demanded the Swiss supplier send goods by air in future.

"So we will raise the price. Transport by air is expensive, you know."

China Daily

(HK Edition 11/16/2010 page1)