Dec. 7 – Major bottling company, Nongfu Spring, is demanding an apology from the industry and commerce bureau of Haikou, Hainan Province for a claim that falsely charged its products of having high levels of arsenic.

The bureau made the claims on November 24 with orders to remove products from shelves immediately only withdraw it on December 1. A separate test conducted by the Chinese Academy of Inspection and Quarantine showed that all the products were safe. According to The Global Times, the provincial health department admitted that the bureau had made “errors in its procedure.”

The company earlier disputed claims made by the bureau as false citing that according to regulations sampling and testing of products must be witnessed by industry and commerce authorities, the producer and the lab in charge of the test.

“The Nongfu Spring was not present when the first test took place, and after the result came out, the beverage corporation applied twice to the Haikou municipal bureau of industry and commerce but received no definite reply,” Ye Zhijian, attorney of Nongfu Spring told Xinhua.

A second test of the products was still not witnessed by Nongfu Spring. In its first announcement, the Haikou bureau of industry and commerce warned that the company’s 30 percent mixed vegetable and fruit juice, C-100 grapefruit juice, and other Uni-President Co. products had high levels of  arsenic.

Arsenic has various commercial uses although when administered in high doses could lead to problems ranging from skin cancer to poisoning.