7 u9 C) g5 n% L8 O& p! pBy Geoff Dyer in Shanghai " E9 y1 R) f/ p& HWednesday, June 27, 2007 & `* M; m1 }$ B# D, K 7 R! I7 `+ y0 j) {1 H3 C( O8 q' x* o' _; v2 O% e
BEIJING'S SEIZURE OF US FOOD SEEN AS RETALIATION; o, O. ^ v: {7 H7 }
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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.3 o/ T: j# f9 E: j! ]
! G5 t2 o, F$ R4 H( x& L% {, ~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. ( ?2 q" s; }% s# ~; w) Q! x" ?; d8 I4 ]$ V2 g7 K
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. b+ ^8 b7 Q3 v
& @5 ]0 W/ D. |! T7 D& I1 E1 jThe 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. ! }$ L Q6 X. ^0 @4 }" O. i8 Q8 a , a, h# i9 |+ U7 E# X: U' MChina'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! `) M0 d9 g% T2 a, B: w' E m/ a$ z7 C
The 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.; n6 N2 B8 n1 x( w, \6 f
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The agency's statement said local departments had been advised to “strengthen quarantine and inspections on food imports from America”.4 }; y0 C, p$ d; r
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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.”9 S% P1 {: P+ L/ [
8 |+ k6 y8 m7 v5 D: D3 I3 R; J) `1 k2 e& bThe 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 ?2 \1 U) r/ b, [- N# y0 F1 u6 N. s/ U+ T* u+ Q
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. * R O3 ^! y8 E" p6 S* ] 4 n) x$ U/ O. w) g; \* U9 q) R# X. m! d& a9 m
