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BEIJING'S SEIZURE OF US FOOD SEEN AS RETALIATION: Q$ h: s& b3 P y- r8 W [
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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.* o+ P: x: n( K4 E3 {
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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." a& A3 S, y9 Y6 V+ E
# k5 ?* A8 l4 q2 u" B) JComing 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. 6 w+ D1 w+ [7 A$ v0 }2 n1 J 7 u) S# g$ C9 v3 q# N1 i! VThe 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.- W" c% Q' ?# _
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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.5 {8 Q' B$ Y/ |$ `' e+ x
+ A9 |) E0 a9 Z: \# w* ?, l7 a- [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. 3 p {1 r$ Z( I 9 x; L6 ~& p% o- g9 T' X2 W4 xThe agency's statement said local departments had been advised to “strengthen quarantine and inspections on food imports from America”. ! t$ o c# S/ J, c& h1 i' R5 B- M% ] f+ B8 Y. U: @
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.”& U8 k4 i" e1 S2 h) s
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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.; B" Y" k4 V: r
! G' w2 j' r" KThe 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.5 P3 |# F' ?& F$ `' h
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Financial Times
