$ }% o9 }* A' o# X% D& \ % Y. k8 O: {4 N& i+ v: _! t9 VBEIJING'S SEIZURE OF US FOOD SEEN AS RETALIATION & ?' ^3 U" @& i* R ' S. Z$ x' ~: q' B. J; d7 E0 ]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. Q/ P, A; Z' U5 ]$ q) A
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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. # j- i$ W! H! N 9 N6 B& C/ {( C8 L4 tComing 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. 0 I0 i( w3 P& M2 k + H) C" e# R( o" LThe 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.. C2 Y4 @$ e M/ R! R
' H1 X& T8 ^& l/ cChina'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. . W. d4 t& a* l, [5 i6 t i9 J. p- [6 C# p h9 NThe 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.' H1 J1 q& X* i& T1 o2 k3 y
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The agency's statement said local departments had been advised to “strengthen quarantine and inspections on food imports from America”.4 q3 ^5 y+ }/ T3 y# g2 [* K" Q
6 g: k2 Y( O0 K* N! a' kAn 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.” 6 t$ O/ p5 z' D. P0 g) L# Q- k ! t! y1 U7 j# Y# e) `; }3 CThe 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.4 s7 w" ]% O3 f) j$ Z
3 d% @; s* i* v% R- M1 O! 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.; a5 s/ x, s$ J3 `5 T% P6 ^& s
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Financial Times
