Some Kitchen Paper Towels 'too Dirty For Food'

Kitchen paper towels might not be as clean and hygienic as they look, the Consumer Council has warned, saying its tests have found one in three contain excessive amounts of bacteria.

The watchdog looked at 15 different brands and found five exceeded mainland safety limits on bacteria, by as much as four times.

Professor Nora Tam, who chairs the watchdog's research and testing committee, said the paper towels could pose a health risk if people let them come into contact with their food.

"Don't think that they are 100 percent hygienically safe. After you have cooked food, if you want to use the paper towel or cleaning towel to wipe the food to make it [look] nicer when you give it to people, if the towel itself has got bacterial contamination, it is likely it will pass to the cooked food," Tam said.

The watchdog said the problematic towels were manufactured by Select, Naxos, BESTbuy, First Choice and Freesia, and it has referred the matter to Customs officials.