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BEIJING'S SEIZURE OF US FOOD SEEN AS RETALIATION 5 ?; H A( P3 z r# t 6 K" z9 s+ w; }7 ]: {/ OChina 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.9 {' w: d: ]) n7 S" ?4 ?+ P
9 H& q* E& G6 U2 I0 G, @' QGovernment 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. 9 m+ c3 O! v% t+ \ Z1 C$ S2 |9 I8 s
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. ~" v3 u( f8 U
0 F$ k! R& y& k: c( L. CThe 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.5 q* Z; A; l0 d& n) r
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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.9 `; K# e$ D$ b+ r9 X6 g) q3 d3 R
6 I( O! O. K. Z, B: JThe 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. x. w( {; c( s' K- R, N
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The agency's statement said local departments had been advised to “strengthen quarantine and inspections on food imports from America”.5 y% r8 H4 H" k
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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.” : S0 ^* a8 Z# b. f* B9 H ) r( |5 h/ ~% 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.: E- D. z0 q, Y8 B% |) L
5 `. x7 n: v1 R4 `; T6 QThe 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.; n) E1 J# j' C3 Z9 \1 w
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0 i+ \3 s6 n- O- R 5 a1 q2 ^ U" f, NFinancial Times
