China Claims U.S. Meat Imports Tainted
By ANITA CHANGBEIJING - China has suspended imports from several major U.S. meat processors, the latest indication the government may be retaliating as its products are turned back from overseas because of safety concerns.
Frozen poultry products from Tyson Foods Inc., the world’s largest meat processor, were found to be contaminated with salmonella, the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine said on its Web site Friday.
The agency said other imports barred by China included frozen chicken feet from Sanderson Farms, Inc. found to tainted with residue of an anti-parasite drug, as well as frozen pork ribs from Cargill Meat Solutions Corp. containing a leanness-enhancing feed additive.
A spokesman for Cargill denied the agency’s claims, while officials at Tyson and Sanderson Farms were not immediately available to comment.
China’s food and drug-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. Worries at home and around the world have heightened as a growing number of Chinese products are found tainted with dangerous levels of toxins and chemicals.
Beijing has taken significant steps in recent days to clean up its product safety record, including executing the former head of its drug regulation agency for taking bribes, and banning the use of a chemical found in antifreeze in the production of toothpaste.
Officials also have vowed to better integrate its fractured regulatory system, which currently splits responsibility among at least six agencies. The blurred lines often enable the country’s countless illegal operations to escape detection.
As China works to improve its food safety conditions, authorities also have prominently announced rejections of imports, apparently to turn the tables on critics and show it is not the only country with food export safety problems.
It was not clear whether the latest import bans covered only the products in question or if they extended to all of the companies’ imports. A duty officer at the AQSIQ on Saturday said he did not know any details.
Mark Klein, a spokesman for Minneapolis-based Cargill Inc., disputed the Chinese inspectors’ findings and said the company hoped to resolve the issue by working with U.S. and Chinese officials.
“We’re proud of our products and our processes, and we’ll be delighted to talk about them with all concerned,” he said.
Cargill is the parent company of Wichita, Kansas-based Cargill Meat Solutions Corp., the second-largest beef processor in the U.S.
Messages seeking comment were left with two spokesmen for Springdale, Ark.-based Tyson. A voicemail seeking comment was left at Laurel, Miss.-based Sanderson Farms Inc.
Beijing has previously rejected shipments of substandard orange pulp, dried apricots, raisins and health supplements from the U.S.
A service of the Associated Press(AP)
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