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China Cracks Down on Food Safety, Seizes U.S. Shipments

By Truman Lewis
ConsumerAffairs.com

June 27, 2007

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China says it has closed 180 food plants that were using industrial chemicals and additives in food products, acknowledging wide-ranging safety problems in its food supply.

But Chinese officials also reported seizing shipments of orange pulp and apricots shipped to China from the United States, claiming they contained excessive bacteria, mildew and sulfur dioxide.

The China Daily newspaper reported that most of the plants that were closed down were small, unlicensed operations, many with fewer than 10 employees. China has about 1 million food factories, most of them small.

It's the latest development in a string of food-safety problems including contaminated pet food and allegedly poisonous toothpaste being shipped to the U.S. and other North and South American countries.

In a spreading web of cross-border criticism, China is being blamed for shipping defective tires and lead-laden toys into the U.S.

The crackdown on food safety is being conducted by China's General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine. The agency said it has found 23,000 cases of infractions this year.

"These are not isolated cases," Han Yi, director of the administration's quality control and inspection department, said at a press conference, China Daily reported.

Investigators said they found food factories using such raw materials as dyes, mineral oils, paraffin wax, formaldehyde and the carcinogenic malachite green, in the production of flour, candy, pickles, biscuits, black fungus, melon seeds, bean curd and seafood.

Meanwhile, China turned the tables on the United States, seizing shipments of orange pulp and dried apricots that it said contained excessive bacteria, mildew and sulfur dioxide, according to Xinhuanet.

A statement carried on the website of the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine said the orange pulp was supplied by Modern Skill Co., Ltd. and the dried apricots were supplied by Mariani Packing Company, Inc., CCTV reported.

The orange pulp was seized in east China's Shandong Province, while the dried apricots in Shenzhen, south China's Guangdong Province, the statement said.

The Chinese government said it has ordered local inspectors to intensify scrutiny over food products imported from the United States.

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