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By Geoff Dyer in Shanghai 1 @1 o, w- X6 K1 i
Wednesday, June 27, 2007 & z% H I1 P4 V$ A k/ @$ ~
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BEIJING'S SEIZURE OF US FOOD SEEN AS RETALIATION 7 I$ z0 C! H& c& q% q* [" Z* G$ q( Q( [4 e! T* W& Q
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. 1 k3 {6 R3 @2 T9 N% m) `" a3 c# q2 B w4 J) T
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.' }2 g' m% {+ G2 B
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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. 9 o( X, Y: S0 ?; M9 l ; Z1 e, Z: p+ p; E3 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.) z4 J3 x: w+ l" B/ G
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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. 3 ^9 Y$ r L: \2 d* v4 K. p8 P, W# z( U- s$ T$ W8 Y( O& t
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.% z1 f* k) N7 ^8 r1 S g
^% j. }- j% A5 F1 hThe agency's statement said local departments had been advised to “strengthen quarantine and inspections on food imports from America”. 9 z- S9 i( ~1 J% h6 {4 f; T , U8 B+ m2 Z# QAn 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.”& V9 i) ~2 C% ` f6 Z4 y! ?
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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. # o; J- c6 S* B- I5 z2 p, ]- ]+ W& L3 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. 4 z. W! A$ c% `- G" e# F6 U0 f 7 V5 K6 e: ]% H: P- r9 F5 q% y. ~5 {4 q( A, h' H' R
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Financial Times
