d7 q) H" d3 @3 |3 Y 9 {$ s' C8 F* Q( u1 zBy Geoff Dyer in Shanghai 6 w) x( W! P/ O( { S& x
Wednesday, June 27, 2007 6 q2 U6 h8 `: M8 G
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: A' @. L- R* ]7 ~8 QBEIJING'S SEIZURE OF US FOOD SEEN AS RETALIATION3 i @ H. K) V* d4 Y) Z9 _- `' P: Q
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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.9 k* T0 Q$ f& O9 d6 [
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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.8 ^5 R" y y* O0 c2 r' D8 j; [
% G; u& e L$ \2 V: \8 ?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.$ o2 E* M3 K1 [
/ q$ e& W' a. r7 E7 g& {( T! P% rThe 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. $ `" A6 }* |, _9 d 5 G: z* S; S! vChina'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. + Z: |6 ], f5 d% Y4 O3 q! ~2 R 5 ]5 c2 J; ^# {" o( j4 L/ FThe 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. 4 A, e4 y' a7 \3 l* ?; O & Y4 g, Z# _2 T. M4 S! r1 c9 mThe agency's statement said local departments had been advised to “strengthen quarantine and inspections on food imports from America”.6 n& ^! e! V3 r+ c- o
* a; r+ J, f! W8 R- r5 x& NAn 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.” F! J n6 S% r. P7 H* v2 K) R# ~5 _& y
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. * L# G5 g4 ~4 B+ P) S$ N8 X2 ?% u& C
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. * c- m$ ^' |# M( i# M 5 `; [! P" p; d: ?( T& P' P. ^) R* S$ g
