% ^: o% u [6 Q% F8 C. c( jBEIJING'S SEIZURE OF US FOOD SEEN AS RETALIATION. V+ K! @3 T0 L: M+ E
) h6 c$ y$ ^; B! H2 W) t4 a; ZChina 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.( z# D# t; ?# Z& e
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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. $ v' N9 Q5 w: U( U) \1 d6 _' ]9 Y+ @/ u& ]: B0 L6 d
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. ' N* Q- V: n( l8 p, Q: B4 [( e# W6 ]3 _& W3 }$ n0 r
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. }$ e, t2 u6 J3 z, w4 @( Z
4 K6 j+ Y3 g+ lChina'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.0 x- E f8 X2 Q- q
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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.; i( ]3 Y0 r- G" i' e! T$ X2 m7 N! G
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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 W+ l* ~% ]' `3 L 5 S) P, B5 ~' p/ lAn 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 E: d( S3 A. t0 [) {8 ^, m! B' ~6 m% U' W
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.6 S. @% X; Z7 a; t1 q3 r) s. n
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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. ! R" A- K* Z* G# b6 e) F% ? 7 p8 H3 ~; ~5 H9 p( Q $ Q/ u9 F7 w" o, c$ \, `& @& ~6 X3 c8 H. X$ ` ^( g- b
Financial Times
