; i: }! c' B5 rBEIJING'S SEIZURE OF US FOOD SEEN AS RETALIATION # Q$ N P m3 \" M3 y ( y2 Z' B! a" @# Q" mChina 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.8 H$ w6 i( | b0 u/ ?
2 f/ ]7 B8 Y. n! lGovernment 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. _/ h, p! o2 N; n ?
7 |3 D9 N+ c) q& E. jComing 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.$ S1 s3 l9 `9 G
% N, v' l# [# ]! t4 NThe 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. ; a$ @0 X3 f/ J. N) { ' u/ M& F; X. N5 s/ g4 w. Y$ e0 bChina'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.* [, @3 m$ e4 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.6 r+ j# H2 ^ @8 _* `; O8 ]' U
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The agency's statement said local departments had been advised to “strengthen quarantine and inspections on food imports from America”.* q d3 [7 I6 T' F
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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.” 0 \6 @% F+ {8 m4 v . G Y) P5 [7 {0 d9 b6 v! e q+ K6 wThe 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. # i# v' k+ E4 m 7 B( T K. d: JThe 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.3 @7 |$ {+ I5 U% t" ~
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Financial Times
