BEIJING (Kyodo) China has declared that SK-II brand beauty products are safe after concluding that trace amounts of two banned substances found in the items are unlikely to affect consumer health, a Japanese Embassy official said Tuesday.

The official, who contacted China's General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, said the quality control authorities agree that small amounts of the substances can find their way into items through the production process.

"The conclusion was that the amount found will not affect people's health," the official said.

State-owned China Central Television also reported Tuesday the authorities concluded that proper use of products with trace amounts of the substances is unlikely to affect people's health.

No announcements were made on the Web sites of the quality authorities or China's Health Ministry.

China's state-owned Xinhua News Agency reported in September that authorities had found that 12 SK-II products imported from Japan contained chromium and neodymium.

The report prompted consumers to flock to department stores to return the products.

In response, the Japanese unit of U.S. consumer products group Procter & Gamble Co. said it is temporarily stopping sales of the products in mainland China, citing "confusion among consumers."