7 s. I" C& K1 Z4 xBEIJING'S SEIZURE OF US FOOD SEEN AS RETALIATION [ Z( ~4 Y# _ V z, r# k( Q( c% f
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. ) z, ]4 k( J" V % O( P# d, [8 D1 [1 n* d" E( iGovernment 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./ q0 ?* F* O3 J
5 F1 t$ I7 j. \; u* ]0 m/ 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." e, O/ x4 G9 ~. g
6 @$ n: D* ^" C7 T3 G g! p' MThe 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., X! t1 ?) ^, _$ Z9 E
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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. - \7 }) Q1 S6 I7 L" @" d 7 Y4 N1 T2 p! Y) n- J# wThe 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.' y$ S3 s* _2 S& G% Y. S+ l5 z
) _9 R$ Z" i; u- B/ n7 CThe agency's statement said local departments had been advised to “strengthen quarantine and inspections on food imports from America”. 6 K5 b* o7 i7 ~6 `" d0 W% J8 \, c % W8 V1 [0 e; N0 G# ?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.”$ {; o5 i+ `, w0 O7 N+ X& n4 ^
; c8 h% W+ O8 b% V0 @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. 4 U- Z! Q; a, m/ H: F: a# h ' ~2 }' {) ~( I! y" hThe 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.9 [8 O/ U1 A1 L$ [6 A& y
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