2 I9 a. s4 c. z3 aBy Geoff Dyer in Shanghai 4 l% d& `$ ?9 f2 C
Wednesday, June 27, 2007 3 ^7 L7 o* a8 u) z" F ( y7 i6 s6 s5 `5 O! t 7 l8 Z7 Z1 _, ]- c' v% v6 y# uBEIJING'S SEIZURE OF US FOOD SEEN AS RETALIATION ( w) P5 u* F9 t( Y) X $ `# U, L2 k7 c7 KChina 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. ' s8 M3 H% F$ _) k- U5 b4 u8 M1 P. o- r/ ~8 O) 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. 3 {0 Q" P' ]- |) S! V( e' P$ `1 [0 a0 |1 E! }5 S' G% c2 `
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.2 r' s0 e' q B* F. o
1 W: Y' y9 F: m; {+ ] B6 O6 i
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.( g( I! j5 r2 }) Q; N. d5 V7 I! s" e
4 N1 H$ v- k7 G9 n! GChina'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. 7 i4 x2 g( \1 g' s' J4 d0 D ! r; A. L) X7 G5 c: |/ yThe 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. + l4 P" [: {2 X% g0 Q" Q+ w6 F4 O. @7 A2 \* q0 @
The agency's statement said local departments had been advised to “strengthen quarantine and inspections on food imports from America”.( E7 d$ D# r- j, j+ G$ k* M0 G; J
7 t6 T( e# B' s+ f
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.”4 j M: ^4 Y* C/ X
G! Z& T& R7 Y# D z$ O( ZThe 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. ! \3 K( k$ |: G- U' n8 R! Y; h& b( `+ z; B3 o& d
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. ; D. V# @' j/ Z, p: ?& M c# f7 n* [) ^! F2 _5 S# w7 P# R
/ ]7 }- c2 K4 c! ?' e% H5 \
