Ten makers of Lingzhi supplements - the herbal medicine believed for centuries to help users live longer - have been chastised by officials for making illegal health claims on their packaging.
The companies, which said on their labels that their products cured illnesses such as cancer, have altered their packaging after a complaint from the council to the Department of Health.
Of 32 Lingzhi samples bought by the council, 10 were found to make health claims banned under the Undesirable Medical Advertisements Ordinance.
Council spokesman Dr Michael Tsui said tests found a huge range in price and quality of Lingzhi supplements on sale. Boxes of tablets or capsules could cost from $22 to $690.
Dr Tsui said the variation in the level of polysaccharides - the active ingredient in Lingzhi - in each dosage was 'astonishing'.
Polysaccharide content ranged from 0.06 per cent to 29.7 per cent. When testers looked at how much of each product it would take to generate one gram of polysaccharides, the cost ran from 'a modest $34 to an exorbitant $2,762 per gram - a difference of 80 times'.