# b M! l. S) `By Geoff Dyer in Shanghai ~4 h8 f8 E6 L! O
Wednesday, June 27, 2007 & z; _6 w$ n4 ]/ y+ X$ U
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& i% Q! z; W2 {* ZBEIJING'S SEIZURE OF US FOOD SEEN AS RETALIATION; ^! ` w2 e3 F
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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. ; f% Z. D+ K, B) T6 ?# i / N: k# }0 J& Z# i' |9 o5 oGovernment 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.8 t7 h: n$ I2 w! k
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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." T0 e7 S' F0 O' L' M; t
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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.$ z" h6 ?" d: q5 a3 F; `7 [% m3 A
: Q1 \+ I5 _$ a, TChina'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.! n: S. j7 b5 \( J) J
1 F3 X1 G! A4 T& A6 `4 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.. [! e' q `0 ~/ x) C8 m0 y6 U, X( e( r
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The agency's statement said local departments had been advised to “strengthen quarantine and inspections on food imports from America”.7 e& R, ]9 `. `) v1 b5 x
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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.”+ c) ^/ e& w1 @" o; N
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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. " j- u B# ^6 V4 H, r v( v- J, l0 G' c4 u
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.! X2 S8 s2 L& X M9 u
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