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National standards for disposable chopsticks issued
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2005-10-11 09:01
China's national standard watchdog issued compulsory standards for the
production of disposable chopsticks in Beijing on Monday.
The standards for producing wood and bamboo disposable chopsticks
respectively are enacted to ensure product quality and save wood, said an
official with the Standardization Administration of China(SAC) at a press
conference held on Monday.
According to the standards, wood disposable chopsticks could only be made of
birch, poplar and other widely-planted trees. And the standards encourage makers
to use bamboo which grows much faster than trees.
The standards limit the water content ratio of the bamboo chopsticks within
10 percent to prevent must and ban the use of chemicals that are harmful to
human health.
Li Zhonghai, head of SAC said at the press conference that as most of the
disposable chopsticks in China are made of leftover materials of the lumber
industry, it is not necessary to ban their production and use.
Chopsticks are eating utensil in China and some other Asian countries. China
produces around 45 billion pairs of chopsticks a year.
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