/ `# _; |0 R* m' L# [BEIJING'S SEIZURE OF US FOOD SEEN AS RETALIATION/ f% _7 ]4 e, y0 r/ _
' a9 H6 n' B8 W6 H# p. L+ SChina 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.( ~: u0 ^. z7 G" ]: q
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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.) w$ N' Z) ~ ~0 W9 e
6 M: i, ~1 O0 `& XComing 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.% O9 g8 o- B! b7 R6 {# |
' ^2 q, x( K( v& }3 e# g- D4 hThe 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.7 ?2 Z8 `( |9 c6 Y4 r0 E- Y
9 k# g" S! t! zChina'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.4 W* B; s/ G8 n5 I U/ 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.# f4 M+ Q* S8 j+ {6 o9 U' o) o5 a
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The agency's statement said local departments had been advised to “strengthen quarantine and inspections on food imports from America”. 0 ?. i& L, I9 k 8 |! n: F5 J- {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.”6 A5 t( y& o* u# ]3 k
4 P" k7 a. B1 a! x2 pThe 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. . _* @7 N8 ~( ^0 T0 ^% h( q) Y2 ^! Z6 e& 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. & i6 a( T1 G% s$ M5 x7 B7 P# u2 m5 f6 t Y
