" q" E! m$ i) b/ K1 n6 t& WBEIJING'S SEIZURE OF US FOOD SEEN AS RETALIATION W1 A6 P( r8 r* O; B3 n2 E5 }
- S1 ^ w& g2 d& O: `6 [. Z. zChina 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. - J. H2 K% ]5 i6 C ( @: W( W, u7 k% f( t4 K7 I5 i; ^' ZGovernment 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.0 m* ^+ g: z3 Z" Z$ {, }
* [' g5 b4 o1 t. ^$ p, B' \/ hComing 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.7 q( I2 s; H1 C3 u
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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. 6 L- F1 M* G" f+ `* X' q7 C; |: ]# T$ O' ~2 n
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.; l: l; V, n: I' i
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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.# a _3 q! |3 c6 U* L4 M
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The agency's statement said local departments had been advised to “strengthen quarantine and inspections on food imports from America”. 1 V2 U7 [, S, Y8 \3 I: [ . {2 `9 X# u+ R# KAn 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.”7 }- e1 h$ K; J, f/ u( T+ R% x
7 Z- }' N8 J: X# O+ 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. 0 _( Z4 m% a; n; m" ]. @* F/ Q1 n7 q: p p% p. W* {9 g' i9 yThe 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.) z& G4 z, l5 ~$ t6 N5 b
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Financial Times
