China uncovers "worms, substandard goods" from U.S.
Thu Aug 30, 11:49 PM ET
China has found microscopic worms in wooden packaging from the United States
and uncovered substandard U.S. vitamin pills and fish oil for children, Chinese
media said on Friday in the latest volley of cross-border accusations.
China has highlighted several quality concerns with U.S. products in apparent
response to recent complaints in Washington about the safety of Chinese exports
ranging from toys to toothpaste.
The pine wood worms, or nematodes, were found in 13 sets of packaging in the
manufacturing hub of Shenzhen, the China Daily said.
Harmful organisms were found in another 10 of 70 batches of wooden packaging
sampled between mid-July and mid-August.
This meant the rate of sub-standard packaging from the United States was
higher than that for the European Union, Japan, Korea or Canada, the newspaper
said.
The labels on some of the wooden packaging were unclear, the report said,
adding that that this suggested some exporters might have used fake documents.
Officials have destroyed the goods and urged tighter supervision of wooden
U.S. packaging, the paper said.
The vitamin and mineral pills and children's fish oil were discovered in the
eastern coastal province of Zhejiang, the China News Service said.
"The two failed to reach the nutritious levels promised on their labels," it
said, citing the Zhejiang industrial and commercial department.
Zhejiang had held the goods for further investigation and launched a
"thorough check" of other food imports and exports, the news service said.
China recently destroyed a cargo of sub-standard frozen potato slices also
shipped from the United States, and the quarantine bureau earlier this month
highlighted a cargo of contaminated soybeans that arrived in February.
China has sent a notice to the World Health Organization defending its own
food safety standards and said it was willing to cooperate globally to tackle
the problem.
Michael BWambuga wa Balongo
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