"Kimchi", or the spicy pickled vegetable, imported from China may contain higher level of lead than local-produced ones, but its's lead quantity is insufficient to cause harm to health, South Korea's food safety watchdog said Wednesday.

Last week, a South Korean lawmaker claimed Kimchi imported from China contain at most as five times as the local-produced ones and harmful to the health of local people.

The lawmaker's claim caused panic among South Korean people. Kimchi is one of the South Korean people's most favorite food that they almost eat every meal.

The (South) Korea Food and Drug Administration (KFDA) said in a statement on its website on Wednesday that Chinese Kimchi is not harmful to the human body because the amount of lead in it does not exceed the permissible level set by the World Health Organization (WHO).

"The amount of lead accumulated by consuming imported Kimchi with 0.12 to 0.57 parts per million of lead at every meal for a month does not exceed the provisional tolerable weekly intake for lead set by the WHO," said the statement.

The KFDA also said the figures the South Korean lawmaker cited is not accurate since the samples he took from imported and local- produced Kimchi to make the comparison were few.

But the KFDA called for a stricter screening process and tougher inspections of produce imported from China.

According to government figures, South Korea imported 49,846 tons of Kimchi from China in the first half of the year, up 114.4 percent from a year earlier.

Due to low price, almost half of restaurants in Seoul serve Kimchi to clients, an investigation showed recently.

Source: Xinhua