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BEIJING'S SEIZURE OF US FOOD SEEN AS RETALIATION. Z0 [# e$ Y0 q9 E& d' Z
3 p, e& ^0 N6 b5 `7 d, I" |8 t' e% h2 |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. / I; W) a0 p; S3 Q9 Y * T6 q' b g0 w, m8 LGovernment 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.% t/ Z, p8 p2 V& ^
: @" @/ p' A7 v% ?( a/ GComing 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 s% ]* D: v& S+ p* j+ ?
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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. - W, H6 h: I* M# U0 Y$ N6 [6 }. ~. i6 x& |! n5 y0 B' K" Y6 g
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. 7 B4 T$ ^0 i T- ]0 v: C" S+ S7 M 4 d7 I* y6 m$ 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.. s- U! c) B# v7 j3 Y6 u; U
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The agency's statement said local departments had been advised to “strengthen quarantine and inspections on food imports from America”. & M5 p( ^5 r8 h) ]6 o! E. R+ b* ~! ~: X, [4 d
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.” . z4 } P; a3 u9 p0 G1 f3 X% w) f" W $ H' q+ m n t) UThe 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. * @' C) J5 y1 r/ O6 I% j' \0 E4 c% }6 a8 k: T
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.0 u# v G8 {+ G' E
