SAN FRANCISCO — The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission recalled more products in fiscal year 2008, the bulk of which were made in China, the Consumers Union said Tuesday.

The number of recalls rose by 19 percent to 563 for the year ended Sept. 30 compared with the same period in 2007, according to research by Consumers Union, publisher of Consumer Reports magazine.

The report said two-thirds of the 43 million products recalled were children’s toys, nursery items and clothing. Imports accounted for 97 percent of all products taken off the market, with 81 percent of the products made in Chinese factories.

Congress and the U.S. toy industry took steps this year to strengthen product safety after Mattel Inc., RC2 Corp. and Spin Master had to pull millions of toys at retailers in the summer and fall of 2007. The toys were found to contain too much lead or to be choking hazards.

Since then, Mattel, RC2 and Spin Master have made safer toys. The Consumers Union report said Mattel and RC2 collectively have had to recall fewer than 500,000 products since October 2007.

In the prior fiscal year, the toy-makers recalled more than 20 million toys.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Toys “R” Us, the nation’s largest toy retailers, have stepped up their safety standards too, putting more pressure on their suppliers.

Those steps should help ease some concerns about products on retail shelves as the toy industry hopes to get through the down economy this holiday season. Tough product safety measures contained in the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act won’t kick in until 2009 and beyond.

In its report, the Consumers Union said it found that 85 recalls were never made public as the products either never made it to retailers or violated other government standards, such as the wrong font on warning labels.

The largest recall was 4.2 million Aqua Dots by Spin Master.

An upright stand for growing tomatoes sold by QVC, the TV shopping network, caused the most harm with 155 reported injuries, the report said. Interestingly, the product was called the “Topsy-Turvy Deluxe Tomato Planters With Stand.”