http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/07/16/business/taint.php
China accuses foreign media of raising unnecessary alarm about its exports Monday, July 16, 2007 BEIJING: China's top quality-control official on Monday accused foreign media of raising unnecessary alarm about the safety of the country's food and drug exports, complaining in particular about U.S. reports. The United States and other countries have cracked down on Chinese products since the Food and Drug Administration found in April that North American dogs and cats had been poisoned by tainted Chinese pet food ingredients. Since then, a growing number of Chinese products have been found to contain potentially toxic chemicals and other adulterants. Increasingly, the Chinese authorities have responded by prominently announcing their own rejections of imports, including orange pulp, dried apricots, raisins and health supplements from the United States - apparently to show that they are not the only ones with food-safety problems. Most recently, China suspended some U.S. imports of chicken feet and pigs' ears. "Some foreign media, especially those based in the U.S., have wantonly reported on so-called unsafe Chinese products. They are turning white to black," said Li Changjiang, minister of the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine. "One company's problem doesn't make it a country's problem. If some food products are below standard, you can't say all the country's food is unsafe." The agency is China's main quality-control supervisor and has some responsibility in overseeing the safety of Chinese products. Li said that more than 99 percent of Chinese food exports to the United States in the past three years had met quality standards, the same or better than the amount of U.S. food exports to China. The Chinese agency had said that frozen poultry from Tyson Foods, the world's largest meat processor, was contaminated with salmonella. In the latest move against suspect U.S. products, the agency said on its Web site Monday that protein powder imported from Jarrow Formulas, based in Los Angeles, contained too much selenium. Selenium can be toxic in large doses. The statement said all of the powder was returned, but gave no other details. In the United States, U.S. meat interests said Beijing's decision to block some pork and poultry imports was a blow to exporters who rely on the Asian market for sales of products shunned by consumers at home. Thad Lively, a trade analyst at the U.S. Meat Export Federation in Denver, said China was a crucial market for animal products like "variety meats," which usually includes things like chicken feet and pig ears. Copyright © 2007 The International Herald Tribune | www.iht.com
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