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By Geoff Dyer in Shanghai 4 I) J8 J6 K) _; zWednesday, June 27, 2007 , b) ~7 g1 k4 f6 H8 L
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BEIJING'S SEIZURE OF US FOOD SEEN AS RETALIATION ' `$ [3 @5 l9 K8 ] % k0 _$ [: c7 C2 AChina 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. & d: t7 j9 ]- U# A% ^, [) a - x! r9 d# r& X# S: PGovernment 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 y$ ?" N1 a9 Z0 A1 A # ^8 q0 D% e5 FComing 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. / P; ~* V' y3 P3 n! N( v1 J9 Z `1 G( x! I% T2 _' R1 ~! m. Z* a
The 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.3 o2 L! E" i7 Q' B/ T
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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. M( ^9 `- ]3 W; J% ? r
' w0 y' p* k u2 e* f) vThe 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., r# _. b% `3 W2 T5 Z9 {3 T
2 u% p- L2 X6 F& P LThe agency's statement said local departments had been advised to “strengthen quarantine and inspections on food imports from America”. ( A% X) C4 K" i7 e, J' T. }4 r / T1 X+ m" _" Q4 ZAn 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.”9 d2 Y9 b* u* F! o
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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.! w1 r5 q( l6 X8 n1 l
1 j# [5 K' e$ w! |9 iThe 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 k9 j8 K9 `& N9 m, g2 z8 p) C8 K9 p' G 5 d# @) r# O0 H% c) {7 Y2 v/ g5 `, ^* a- ~/ ^" }- p1 ^2 S
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Financial Times
