( C+ m% ]4 q! q/ Q8 yBy Geoff Dyer in Shanghai ' T, p2 o8 I& _% U/ z7 ?Wednesday, June 27, 2007 $ B2 c. v3 j$ S" M" R
' z m. m) E( q/ J8 A* x3 q / D2 C# f2 |$ M3 XBEIJING'S SEIZURE OF US FOOD SEEN AS RETALIATION " s% _- j( ?$ y. T2 @# h) h 1 m9 L3 b# Y1 MChina 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. 2 _2 |: v& `. R$ ^! _. C- N: L ] - o% k, N D ]8 X! o+ ~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. ) l6 `7 I, y. n, S. a! I; l, q- @7 l6 z" U0 P2 f9 f5 Z0 J
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.9 a+ @$ ?2 H7 w
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The 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. 9 V, N- k3 y2 z# }; O! f5 p9 l* g3 @0 c- @/ j3 j# g2 d! s' \
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. 5 B( Z# v @2 a" c + M f t7 H( G, `6 o7 JThe 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. 7 T3 S8 ~! S0 l! ^. L' ~ 0 ]+ W1 H& c7 z# P& ~& R& ]The agency's statement said local departments had been advised to “strengthen quarantine and inspections on food imports from America”.1 \$ h+ z; B; C5 d7 E
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An 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.”, |; e3 X- d; S9 `. N. o: g
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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.! p* m2 n$ S2 a, W7 y, x6 Y. C: }* b
2 Q" H9 _) {4 ]' _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.2 U) I. G: x3 b
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Financial Times
