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As the foods were widely popular as souvenirs and OTOP products, Anatta Karun said the centre last year collected 27 samples of the chilli paste and 23 samples of the fish curry from souvenir shops in Krabi, Phang Nga and Phuket.

The centre tested for the preservative bensoic acid and sorbic acid, lead, cadmium, and mercury as well as measuring the amount of microbes.

The results found that half of the products were substandard because they either contained microbes or were far too heavy on preservatives - up to ten times more than allowed by the Codex (Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations), he said.

Codex allows up to 1,000 milligrams of the preservative bensoic acid per kilogram of food product, but the samples had an average of 2,0003,000 milligrams of bensoic acid per kilo, he added.

Anatta said this was because the producers, mostly villagers, did not know how to use the preservatives properly and needed to be educated so they could apply proper production controls to ensure good quality products.

Admitting the study may affect OTOP products, he said it is meant to improve the quality of the products to meet the Food and Drug Administration's standards  and to reach wider markets.