( K& u9 U( Z6 x5 _- a) e / ?& r- [* z7 }3 b, IBy Geoff Dyer in Shanghai ( n: G6 O# J2 T% T
Wednesday, June 27, 2007 7 ? B* C6 i& l
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BEIJING'S SEIZURE OF US FOOD SEEN AS RETALIATION# A$ I$ | [( K
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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.0 F# B4 l" s) r1 B3 B& v
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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.+ ~5 Y4 d& E5 r: c% Q# P* W
( o" M9 C+ y6 d/ O: m" n$ |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.# T1 b! e9 [2 M) i7 Z4 s0 @
: l F3 v* U& F2 W# t7 }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.9 ^9 `3 {. @- a5 o
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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. 6 h4 L# r+ h! D6 E k; [3 J8 c s0 h- X+ `! K
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. 1 l6 ^6 g& h0 L9 s1 u3 q" u) r0 D' u) n* l. q' Z$ q
The agency's statement said local departments had been advised to “strengthen quarantine and inspections on food imports from America”.8 i2 l# b" W A) s3 X, V
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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.” : Q& b. k% t8 h* _; P7 V, |+ ^0 {5 ?: }* s
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. # `5 K+ P" V+ b/ X 1 A/ {; N5 g1 W Z y# \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.0 V) {$ Y }" d- b+ B- m2 J
