) O8 c, x% J' R- A5 U美国政府下属的国家公路交通安全管理局(National Highway Traffic Safety Administration)周一宣布召回新泽西州分销商Foreign Tire Sales销售的轮胎，这些轮胎可用于有篷货车、SUV和小型敞篷载货卡车。 t2 ]+ u, w' A! b3 R$ E % z1 _6 H4 Y9 G7 j由中国杭州中策橡胶有限公司(Hangzhou Zhongce Rubber)制造的这些轮胎缺少一层帮助加固轮胎、防止胎面分离的橡胶层——2000年，正是这个问题导致美国大规模召回凡世通轮胎(Firestone)。记者昨日未能联系到杭州中策的管理人员置评。5 y. Q" r- W8 N: Y4 v0 i) c, C
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9 ^+ A% G. E$ C/ Z; E$ MBy Geoff Dyer in Shanghai ' C! k5 J# c* \9 m" j' s! G
Wednesday, June 27, 2007 & u2 ]: ^. D% a5 y! M f& F" i7 o( ^4 v$ ?
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BEIJING'S SEIZURE OF US FOOD SEEN AS RETALIATION 8 ~* @5 f& n2 a! e7 O7 A; o& u* g
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." u/ d( k- [4 p; c7 J: h
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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. 7 t" h4 ]/ K! _& d, E8 |: {2 k9 P& V
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.7 U& u+ N: \9 p4 O
$ l0 J" I( h. N; H% f* F' tThe 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. # y- [+ X% O" \9 v 1 y. K5 }' H, Q. N/ ^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.+ b: \. m% g1 g4 W9 Y3 R
" J; ?8 j. N# ]+ ?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. - T2 H8 ]. n3 O 7 ?; f, S+ {3 j% BThe agency's statement said local departments had been advised to “strengthen quarantine and inspections on food imports from America”. + G* ^8 D/ i+ ]% D: _$ Q- _ 5 |9 h n: S' n8 M, WAn 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.”+ N$ f- p2 }8 G" N
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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. 9 `) S1 G8 T1 `1 K 3 J9 ^% u$ p0 K# S. M. H: K/ qThe 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. 8 w4 R7 k7 \7 d( H. }( \ M4 t 8 \- Z( @; x" k5 ?) l- |8 d: |% E: P# X. f* Q7 b
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Financial Times
