BEIJING, Aug. 15 -- As the sweltering summer heat continues unabated, an ice-cream or frozen lolly might seem hugely tempting. But be careful.

    According to an official sample survey conducted by the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, about half of the ice creams or frozen lollies on sale are sub-standard.

    After examining 76 ice cream products made by 71 manufacturers in 13 provinces and municipalities, the administration announced that the overall approval rate for ice cream products in China is only 52.6 per cent.

    According to the survey, large ice cream producers usually have a better production record.

    Big manufactures including Wall's, Nestle, Mengniu, Yili, Sanyuan, Wufeng and Hongbailai were among the list of trustworthy producers posted by the administration.

    There were a number of potential problems, the first of which was misleading labels.

    Thirty-one products have a problem with their labels. Some producers failed to mark the production date, while others failed to inform customers that the product contained food additives or sweeteners.

    Second was the problem of excessive microbes. Nineteen products had excessive coliforms. One product even contained 24.4 times the accepted standard. This is mainly due to poor sanitary conditions during production.

    The third problem was the improper make-up of ingredients. Ten products' fat content failed to meet the standard.

    Finally, there was the problem of excessive sweetening. It was discovered that some profit-driven ice cream producers use artificial sweeteners as a substitute for sugar in order to reduce production costs.

    As sugar is more expensive than artificial sweetener, these enterprises disregarded the country's regulations on the use of excessive sweeteners.

    According to the previous six official sample surveys in recent years, the approval rate of China's ice cream products has been around 60 per cent.

    (Source: China Daily)