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By Geoff Dyer in Shanghai 5 r+ z% s/ j FWednesday, June 27, 2007 * E# A" ~5 B8 d" T+ l4 N) o! @9 A* U8 o6 e K3 y
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BEIJING'S SEIZURE OF US FOOD SEEN AS RETALIATION % D2 Y9 v5 c% c5 s9 I3 X; N2 w4 l# a* x9 U! V, e. K
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. & r4 l2 Q3 C3 G( Y8 r* f2 ] ) p5 M- N' M0 Z. T- B8 yGovernment 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.' o u" m' J7 [$ d
3 E0 d W8 L" b# X" Z; v/ a0 PComing 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. 6 O1 ~- m" f j3 V5 h% y+ Z+ l8 i+ Z8 w9 F! {+ _4 P x7 Z
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.) \: h( h/ J. Q, V6 T1 Q v1 [
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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.) O; B. t% u. t1 g5 S- _ c
, z7 N; E2 V rThe 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.5 |, p- z t; l+ r0 f
$ X* p! \, p* T3 }4 _1 KThe agency's statement said local departments had been advised to “strengthen quarantine and inspections on food imports from America”. ) o4 T. c2 D! g! K9 v6 M+ f; F9 ?; x% h$ N3 O6 r* M! C9 |% w
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.” Q+ s) m3 ?( {2 b
& a$ e+ V, S- z) c6 [, |9 uThe 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.6 X7 }4 b/ n9 P/ k% z7 a+ k: n
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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.+ w% R/ [! h1 [- R, r
