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By Geoff Dyer in Shanghai ( ?5 k" e! e8 `3 PWednesday, June 27, 2007 & w* `+ m3 J: k3 H* z( z; o- _7 a& l% B' _! e
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BEIJING'S SEIZURE OF US FOOD SEEN AS RETALIATION 8 U7 w1 ^/ i `' A: D" \' k. R& }5 J* c; B2 J$ q- ~
China has impounded two shipments of food from the US on the grounds that the produce is unsafe and warned that procedures for monitoring American food imports should be tightened." }" L0 z1 n- g' A, V7 ?
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Government inspectors seized separate shipments of orange pulp and apricots from the US because they contained excessive bacteria and mould, China's food safety inspectorate said yesterday on its website. 4 K, o& @; @6 }4 P* l! a1 U9 m7 s& C; {+ n. P$ H
Coming on the back of a series of scandals in the US over the quality of imported goods from China, the announcement will be considered by many importers as a form of retaliation by the Chinese authorities.1 w: O5 r- T0 T# {
- ?4 T' N* W5 BThe statement comes one day after regulators in the US announced a recall of up to 450,000 tyres manufactured by a Chinese company because of a potentially dangerous safety problem. ; T U8 n' S' y! v' p, ~: O' J; K+ I9 E2 W: l1 ]
China's General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine said it had impounded the orange pulp in the eastern province of Shandong and the apricots were seized in Shenzhen.2 o; W( `- ?( ~( P& L v
, s7 [" e# y5 Q E9 m2 zThe shipments contained “excessive bacteria, mould and sulphur dioxide”, the agency said, but gave no details about when they were impounded or how big the shipments were. ; k1 l7 }) v6 L; p: x7 \0 C0 S. D- t; y: ~
The agency's statement said local departments had been advised to “strengthen quarantine and inspections on food imports from America”.5 ?6 M w1 [9 K% |
1 M- c2 N* f( {/ p8 @% `) c- SAn executive at a European trading company based in Shanghai said: “We cannot say anything for sure without seeing details about the shipments, but it certainly looks like a way of deflecting some of the attention away from China and its own quality problems.”- x: X0 i, L# w
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The US government's National Highway Traffic Safety Administration announced on Monday the recall of tyres sold by Foreign Tire Sales, a New Jersey distributor, which are used in vans, sports utility vehicles and pick-up trucks. 1 c, ]: K' Z) c! X* f7 j. O3 m, _: O5 u' Q: d3 x0 ~6 U. }
The tyres, made by a Chinese company called Hangzhou Zhongce Rubber, lacked a gum strip that helps strengthen the tyre and prevent tread separation – the problem that caused a massive recall of Firestone tyres in the US in 2000. Officials at Hangzhou Zhongce could not be reached for comment yesterday. % W s4 {. m" N7 | Y" w ' i/ a5 B/ G3 c2 ^7 ^ . L- {2 }# t. {& @, z- H8 Y+ R9 U1 h1 K) w$ I6 z0 x7 }' x& g
Financial Times
