The Myanmar Health Ministry has banned some 11 brands of imported edible oil for dyeing with chemicals which do not conform to the health standard, the local weekly Flower News reported Sunday.

Such brands of edible oil imported across border from Thailand and Malaysia as Sakura, Golding Oil, Fisherman, One Prawn, Fried Fish, Crab, Water Dragon, Red Star, Yellow Star and Green Star are being searched in the markets for confiscation.

These brands of edible oil are said to have been reproduced from cooked oil and dyed with colored chemicals threatening to create cancer, the report said.

According to the authorities, 2,000 viss (3.3 tons) of such imported edible oil have been seized.

Over the past four months, the Myanmar health authorities also banned 101 kinds of fish paste and 100 brands of pickled tealeaves on sale in the markets for finding chemical dye, Auramine O.

The authorities destroyed a total of about 24.7 tons of chemical-dyed fish paste in Yangon and about 240 kilograms of chemical-dyed pickled tealeaves in Mandalay during the period.

The authorities also banned some four brands of dyed chili powder on sale in markets in Mandalay for finding chemical dye Rhodamine B of red color as well as another four more brands of ready-made fish paste after testing that they contained the chemical dye used for coloring silk, cotton, paper and leather, and for screening diseases in laboratory, according to earlier official report.

Myanmar imported US$298.14 million worth of vegetable oil and other hydrogenated oil in the fiscal year of 2008-09 which ended in March, up from US4195.8 million in the previous year, figures showed.

(Xinhua News Agency August 3, 2009)