% C- s* ^9 C( o0 LBy Geoff Dyer in Shanghai ; c2 v5 I3 n6 o
Wednesday, June 27, 2007 & m5 N) c; S% Z
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BEIJING'S SEIZURE OF US FOOD SEEN AS RETALIATION - u' J& L- r, c$ \+ r: k - L6 v0 W2 G9 ? [. 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. , F2 }5 Y4 Z1 i* \$ _ 9 g3 |( o; n, B) i# uGovernment 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.% l0 I; p; ^ ^( X8 ^6 O4 s# p
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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./ V6 I" E# i& o' F, o7 o! f
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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. 7 i% D |( d! w4 ?+ Y( K - q' k; _# z. v9 ZChina'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.2 q+ d4 ?; r' r; b8 U. W- d# a
; x3 X: Z/ M8 W, c* }+ t& sThe 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.! D! `) H; r- C4 D: J
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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 l6 v2 \7 X- s0 v0 r
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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.” 8 P: j Y6 A3 C. Z$ |" j q " t" }8 l, z9 Y8 H: ^. @+ vThe 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. 2 X8 M9 B9 k& t0 Z! A5 S* y& p% R# L: z" N% X, u
The 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.3 Y% U! P) H) A8 k. I. V3 A
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Financial Times
