Beijing is investigating a Hong Kong-based company that Californian toy retailer Mattel has accused of supplying it with unsafe products, the Wall Street Journal reported. Last week, Mattel recalled 1.5 million Chinese-made toys believed to contain lead paint. The manufacturer of the toys, Lee Der Industrial, told inspectors that it might have been cheated by its own paint supplier. A senior official at the Entry-Exit Inspection and Quarantine Bureau of China's southern Guangdong province, where Lee Der's factory is located, said operations had yet to be shut down although exports are banned during the investigation period. It has been suggested that Mattel's experience could see US toy makers and retailers to carry out more testing of Chinese-made products on their own. The company has already been criticized in the US for refusing to identify the source of the tainted products for one week after discovering them.
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