BEIJING (AP) — The Chinese government said yesterday some health supplements and raisins imported from the U.S. failed to meet China’s safety standards and have been returned or destroyed, turning the tables on the U.S.
In Washington, a top U.S. food safety official said the Food and Drug Administration was seeking more information from its Chinese counterparts, including whether there are “bona fide, science-based findings” or retaliation for U.S. actions.
U.S. inspectors recently have banned or turned away a growing number of Chinese exports, including monkfish containing life-threatening levels of puffer fish toxins, drug-laced frozen eel and juice made with unsafe color additives. The FDA also has stopped all imports of Chinese toothpaste to test for a potentially deadly chemical reportedly found in tubes sold in Australia, the Dominican Republic and Panama.
Yesterday’s announcement said Chinese inspectors in the ports of Ningbo and Shenzen found bacteria and sulfur dioxide in products shipped by three American companies.
“The products failed to meet the sanitary standards of China,” the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine said in a notice posted on its Web site.
No details were given on when or how the inspections were conducted and phone calls to the administration’s office were not answered.
The companies were identified as K-Max Health Products Co., CMO Distribution Center of America, Inc., and Supervalu International Division.
The agency said K-Max and CMO exported health capsules, including bee pollen and bacteria-fighting supplements. Supervalu exported Sun-Maid Golden Raisins, it said. The shipments from K-Max and Supervalu have been destroyed and CMO’s capsules were returned, the notice said.
The FDA’s assistant commissioner for food protection, Dr. David Acheson, said U.S. officials were seeking more information.
“Whatever the motives are for this, if it’s real, we want to know about it,” Dr. 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.”
Neil Langerman, an officer of the division of chemical health and safety of the American Chemical Society, questioned whether China’s seizure was in retaliation for recent U.S. actions against Chinese products.
“There’s more to this story than meets the eye. This is political,” Mr. Langerman said. “I’d see what China is doing as a retaliation to what the U.S. has done.”
The Chinese announcement did not specify which contaminants were found in which products, saying only that they were found in amounts above acceptable levels, without providing details.
“Local quality officials should step up the inspection and quarantine on imported food products from the U.S.,” the Chinese notice said. “Chinese importers should also clarify food safety demands in contracts when importing U.S. food products, so as to lower the trade risk.”
K-Max president Liei Ye did not immediately respond to a message left with the company yesterday seeking comment. K-Max is a subsidiary of Kang Long Group Corp., whose Web site said the company began by selling Wisconsin-grown ginseng to U.S. health food stores under its K-Max brand, before expanding into China, Russia, Japan, Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan and other markets. Kang Long has four mainland China offices and a Hong Kong branch in addition to its Pomona, Calif., headquarters, according to the site.
Supervalu International is part of Supervalu Inc., headquartered in Eden Prairie, Minn. The FDA said in 2000 that CMO Distribution Center of America was based in Sarasota, Fla. However, state records showed it was dissolved as a company in Florida in 2003.
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