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By Geoff Dyer in Shanghai " V3 o5 l4 O( |1 S; e
Wednesday, June 27, 2007 6 z+ @( Q9 R* \, j7 x! u% f ! Q c$ k7 v B2 D- s. d' O& k' I0 S$ g/ W, i, t! N8 |
BEIJING'S SEIZURE OF US FOOD SEEN AS RETALIATION" t6 j; l, i* w3 D( m( A* q# v
2 w/ J2 T) Q9 O% F& a- \! QChina 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. + r( P* k- n+ h. s2 Z2 ]2 x0 M G. j5 g# P0 _ u
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. + q& O0 H9 b* n: Q- b. B! S! _) n- n& Q4 P1 X2 b
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. ' r+ `! r; c/ ]3 z; P: g9 [$ }9 q. A. f. K+ [
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. 4 v5 H% Z# C0 e( X" l& Z, M' u0 E/ \
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. " A) n! t1 _) W ; K+ y0 ]2 g0 Q% B) k/ bThe 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. + z) s1 F) E# u, L" G- I" U 7 D0 n0 _, T8 g" a2 |- wThe agency's statement said local departments had been advised to “strengthen quarantine and inspections on food imports from America”.! W# h' c, R5 [. J- \. V' h& ]
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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.”8 M4 N% p5 j6 C+ J* R0 M: g0 h x
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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. 2 s9 Z V7 y3 E+ x7 ~ & k5 B1 W+ D/ }; U8 e& KThe 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.) A! s3 h+ I+ l1 K3 ^3 \5 ~
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Financial Times
