Hong Kong's Centre for Food Safety has appealed to retailers to stop selling various brand mineral water products carrying the "Jermuk" label.

A CFS spokesman said the appeal was made as the Food and Drug Administration of the United States had issued a warning to consumers not to drink the mineral water products which were found to contain heavy metal arsenic. The levels detected ranged from 500 to 600 ppb, exceeding the international standard of 10 ppb.

Labeled as "Jermuk Original Sparkling Natural Mineral Water Fortified With Natural Gas From The Spring", the product is additionally labeled as "2006 Jermuk Mayr Gortsaran CJSC" and "Imported by: Zetlian Bakery Inc.".

The products also are labeled as "Jermuk Sodium Calcium Bicarbonate and Sulphate Mineral Water.", "Bottled by ARPI Plant, Republic of Armenia" and "Exclusive US importer and distributor: Importers Direct Wholesale Co., Los Angeles, CA".

"We are contacting the US authorities for more information and closely monitoring the situation," the spokesman said.