China Goes On Offensive, Singles Out US Products That Don't "Meet Sanitary Standards"

PR-inside.com (Austria) ^ | June 9, 2007 | Associated Press

[JACKRUSSELL]

BEIJING (AP) - China said Saturday it had rejected a shipment of pistachios from the United States because it contained a potentially harmful variety of ants, the latest indication that the country may be going on the offense as its own products were being turned away over safety fears.

The move came a day after the Chinese food safety watchdog announced that shipments of health supplements and raisins from the U.S. had been returned or destroyed because they did not meet quality control standards.

On Saturday, state television showed inspectors in the southern province of Guangdong rejecting a two-ton shipment of pistachios because they contained what the report called "milky white ants," which looked similar to termites.

China Central Television said the ants could "cause a serious threat to trees and to the ecological environment." Part of the batch, which arrived by ship to the port of Zhongshan, will be destroyed and the rest will be returned, CCTV said, without giving any other details.

Footage showed inspectors wearing face masks while bagging samples and sealing the shipping container the pistachios were in. The report also showed safety certificates from the U.S. issued to Cal-Pure Pistachios Inc., based in Bakersfield, California.

Telephone calls to Guangdong quarantine officials rang unanswered on Saturday.

China's shaky food safety record has come under scrutiny in recent months following the deaths of cats and dogs in the United States and Canada blamed on tainted Chinese pet food ingredients.

Since then, U.S. inspectors have banned or turned away a growing number of Chinese exports - from monkfish to juice to toothpaste - because they contained life-threatening levels of toxins or unsafe chemicals.

While it's not immediately clear if China's latest actions were taken in retaliation or if they were part of regular inspections, the report on state television indicates there's an increasing push to show that other countries also have food safety issues.

The Web site of the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, China's food safety agency, showed lists of products from 2006 and 2007 that had been turned away from countries including the United States, Canada, Japan, Singapore and Italy because they did not meet Chinese standards.

Late last month, France's Groupe Danone SA said China seized five containers of Evian water in February because of concern over high bacteria levels.

The U.S. FDA's assistant commissioner for food protection, Dr. David Acheson, said Friday that U.S. officials were seeking more information on the latest cases of American products being turned away.

"Whatever the motives are for this, if it's real, we want to know about it," Acheson said.

"Is it tit-for-tat? We don't know and probably won't ever know. If they found a legitimate problem with a product exported from the United States, we would want to know about it so we can look into it and fix it."

The Chinese quality supervision administration said Friday that inspectors in the ports of Ningbo and Shenzhen found bacteria and sulfur dioxide in health capsules and raisins shipped by K-Max Health Products Co., CMO Distribution Center of America, Inc., and Supervalu International Division. K-Max and CMO exported health capsules, including bee pollen and bacteria-fighting supplements. Supervalu exported Sun-Maid Golden Raisins, it said on its Web site. The shipments from K-Max and Supervalu have been destroyed and CMO's capsules were returned, the notice said. The Chinese announcement did not specify which contaminants were found in which products, saying only that they were found in amounts above acceptable levels.

It urged local authorities to step up inspections of imported food products and said Chinese importers should clarify food safety demands in contracts when importing U.S. food products, so as to lower the trade risk.

[jiggyboy]

There is a HUGE difference between termites ACCIDENTALLY getting into a shipment of pistachios

You're giving them too much credit. I'll bet that either "termites" were put into the pistachios five minutes before a press conference or photo op, or that there were never any termites at all, i.e., the whole story is simply propaganda.

[Finalapproach29er]

Good. Let’s have a trade war with these bastards.

If Americans stop buying crap from China, they will have no surplus. When did America turn into a bunch of pu**ies?

Right is right and wrong is wrong. Poison is not okay.

[Dr. Bogus Pachysandra]

We are evidently doing the same thing. I believe it’s nothing more than greed. Here’s a story about melamine in US products. Broke yesterday.
http://tinyurl.com/2olgqp

[Jedi Master Pikachu]

Suspicion seems to be confirmed: that you're the 'chinaisacesspool' keyword poster.

The PRC is a developing (third world) country. Hong Kong (in your other thread) is developed if considered by itself. Neither are cesspools, even though the PRC is Communist and poses a threat to this country.

[Thermalseeker]

I'll bet that either "termites" were put into the pistachios five minutes before a press conference or photo op, or that there were never any termites at all, i.e., the whole story is simply propaganda.

Could be, and you are probably right, but I grew up on a farm and critters getting into the harvest stores isn't rare at all.

Doesn't matter to me one iota, though. I quit buying Chinese crap a long, long time ago. It was May of 1996 at a job site in Nicaragua when a cheap Chinese crescent wrench jammed at the least opportune moment that put me over the top with the Chinese and the look-a-like crap they sell.

If it says "Made in China" on it I don't buy it. Period. Unfortunately, I'm in a very, very small minority.....

[dusttoyou]

sounds like a load of $hit to me
Yep. There is a HUGE difference between termites ACCIDENTALLY getting into a shipment of pistachios and the Chinese INTENTIONALLY putting a poison into foodstuffs to skew protein content tests. No comparison whatsoever.

No No, we just don’t understand. Our raisons don’t have enough “honey wagon” on them for the Chinese tastes.

[Vigilanteman]

Moral equivalence:

A few natural, edible ants in nuts = products that kill pets and people.

[ken21]

that’s childish.

either eat our filth, or shut up!

[Last Dakotan]

Why if this keeps up, somebody in America might have to manufacture something.

I don't think we know how to anymore.

[Cringing Negativism Network]

This is the equivalent, of a tit-for-tat diplomatic expulsion.

China has ZERO health standards. They only care about money.

We really need to stop importing anything edible from there.

[JACKRUSSELL]

"Suspicion seems to be confirmed: that you're the 'chinaisacesspool' keyword poster."

No, I can't take credit for that one. I did, however, notice that it was added to some of my posts, and I liked it, so I use it when I remember to.

[RightWhale]

China will lose this high-marking contest.

[JACKRUSSELL]

And, here's another excellent example of just how heartless and disgusting these people can be:

"One Dog Policy Puts ‘Walking Free Meals’ Back On The Menu

http://www.sundayherald.com/international/shinternational/display.var.1411812.0.0.php

[bugs_dallas]

I think a trade war would do us both good.

[spokeshave]

That's OK...just stop shipping containers full of chop-sticks and water to China..

They have run out of both.

[ears_to_hear]

I just bought a bag and checked to make sure they were from the US.

Does this mean that THEY inspect their imports better than we do ?

[Sender]

Yes if both the US and China stopped accepting each others’ foodstuffs, China would be the one to lose. I am very distrustful of any food or ingredient from China right now. Let them turn away 2 tons of nuts. See what happens when their 1000 containers of bad seafood start to rot on the ships.

[Dick Bachert]

On a recent visit to China, a friend spotted this ad in a Beijing newspaper. He sent me the photo with a translation of the ad copy.

BECOME AN ENTREPRENEUR AND JOIN CHINA’S NEW MONIED ELITE!

Yes, you can now join the millions of happy and prosperous Chinese citizens taking advantage of the growing numbers of American and Western multinational corporations “outsourcing” their production to the hard-working and industrious people of China. This outsourcing has now spread to their food supplies and ingestible items. Since these firms pay us for gross weight – and this new weight will be pretty gross – and the stupid American government only spot-checks imported items in these categories (they just got lucky on the anti-freeze thing), it has opened an entirely new opportunity which our beloved Chairman is offering to any Chinese citizen willing to do a little of what the foolish Americans call “grunt work.”

Installing one of these state-of-the-art food additive production facilities behind YOUR hovel is as simple as clipping the coupon below and sending it to the address shown. Your production plant will be shipped to you in 4 to 6 weeks. Supplies are limited so don’t fart around. ACT NOW!!

These silly Americans have an expression we have “borrowed” and modified to describe this new and exciting venture: “Don’t give me any s**t.”

Our motto will be “We won’t GIVE you any s**t. But we’ll SELL it to you fools at a really great price.”

AND LOOK FOR A NEW DROP-DEAD MONEY-MAKER COMING SOON. SOYLENT YELLOW PROMISES TO BE BIG!!

[glorgau]

"Is it tit-for-tat?

I'm positive that we can find a lot more "tat" than they possibly have of "tit".

[Polybius]

Fine with me. They tighten up standards, we tighten up standards, consumers in both countries win.

As it should be.

China does not need transplanted invasive species and neither do we.