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By Geoff Dyer in Shanghai ' Z) N& R, Q1 s& F8 @# L$ }Wednesday, June 27, 2007 9 ?( B8 k& p8 l 1 a( n1 N; A+ u7 H0 U5 D1 t' e @8 J" E3 ~5 j3 q& |
BEIJING'S SEIZURE OF US FOOD SEEN AS RETALIATION8 w& e1 _( l! g" u
) X6 N9 O/ P- k/ a+ KChina 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. 4 R5 O( S7 L- r5 Q5 _& ^ - x9 @& V* o; v7 |# C6 s0 L0 `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., }: u7 b" C3 }6 o. ]# l
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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.+ _, X* e8 ?+ m) A5 `' w# S
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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. 6 k7 D0 ^$ t! u' E0 g$ k* \, e7 {; H; p, t1 Y) |% c
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. z6 a6 A; @1 i! Z# s7 [. U0 D " M6 a+ d5 z( d" k; k0 q" I3 [; j4 y6 q4 t9 lThe 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. 6 `7 k/ F- ]$ v' ~4 o/ X& Z; V5 d1 Z4 P
The agency's statement said local departments had been advised to “strengthen quarantine and inspections on food imports from America”.2 @8 a' l" m; C& 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.” " I* f Y1 `# k$ { * `7 V0 x6 v+ J/ d7 p" ]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. $ @# d. C* e0 ^. u9 e; \ M 5 s0 o" ^) d( z2 ZThe 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. # I, t, K! N @: T% J$ m2 a' O/ Z* \
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Financial Times
