July 2, 2007

China calls US seafood ban "unacceptable"

China said it cannot accept the indiscriminate ban on four kinds of seafood imported from the mainland by the United States and urged the matter be settled as soon as possible, the Xinhua news agency reported.

The announcement came after the FDA said shipments of these seafood would be discontinued unless suppliers prove that they did not contain any banned antibiotics.

Although there might be individual cases of Chinese businesses with problematic shipments, the indiscriminate ban of all exports of such products is "unacceptable" Xinhua quoted Li Changjiang, director of the State Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, as saying.

The US said it would send a team to China soon to negotiate a solution to the seafood ban, Xinhua said.

Products from China have come under tighter scrutiny after wheat gluten imported from two Chinese companies were believed to contain melamine which killed dozens of pets in the US. Since then, products imported fro China such as toothpaste, tires, toys and seafood have come under fire.

Still, American companies may find it difficult to wean themselves off Chinese products even as consumers may be leery of using them.

Companies like General Mills and Kellogg, which produce the nation's cereal products are stepping up inspections but have no plans to switch to alternative suppliers or domestic sources.

More than half of the vitamin C products in the US comes from China. Imports of apple juice from China, used extensively as a sweetener, has been growing steadily as well.

China on the other hand is tightening its food safety inspections and has shut down 180 domestic food manufacturers for the past six months for making substandard food or using inedible materials for food production.