> http://www.voanews.com/english/figleaf/mp3filegenerate.cfm?filepath=http://www.voanews...
> Tokyo JAPAN TAIWAN SHRINE L 2 Acts-Mp2.Mp3
>
> (AP) Turning the tables on the United States amid growing worries over
> dangerous Chinese products, Beijing said Friday some health
> supplements, raisins and pistachios imported from the U.S. failed to
> meet China's safety standards and have been returned or destroyed.
>
> 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 they are "bona fide, science-based
> findings" or in 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 has also 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.
>
> Friday'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 telephones at the administration's office were not answered
> Friday.
>
> The companies were identified as K-Max Health Products Co., CMO
> Distribution Center of America, Inc., and Supervalu International
> Division.
>
> On Saturday, state television showed inspectors in the southern
> province of Guangdong rejecting a two-ton shipment of pistachios
> because they contained what the report called "milky white ants,"
> which looked similar to termites.
>
> China Central Television said the ants could "cause a serious threat
> to trees and to ecological environments." Part of the batch will be
> destroyed and the rest will be returned, the report said without
> giving any other details.
>
> Footage showed safety certificates from the U.S. issued to Cal-Pure
> Pistachios Inc., based in Bakersfield, Calif.
>
> Telephone calls to Guangdong quarantine officials rang unanswered on
> Saturday.
>
> The state quality 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," 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."
>
> Depending on what the FDA learns, it could follow up with inspections
> of the companies and its own sampling and testing, Acheson said.
> Previously, the agency hasn't known of any problems with the
> companies' products flagged by the Chinese, he added.
>
> Supervalu spokeswoman Rebekah Fawcett said its international division
> "works closely with our vendors and our manufacturers to ensure that
> the products we import and export adhere to quality standards and
> safety specifications." Supervalu International is part of Supervalu
> Inc., headquartered in Eden Prairie, Minn.
>
> 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,"
> said Langerman, an officer of the division of chemical health and
> safety of the American Chemical Society. "I'd see what China is doing
> as 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."
>
> Langerman said only a very small percentage of U.S. food shipments
> have bacterial problems.
>
> "Without seeing data, the claims, while they may in fact be valid,
> don't have merit," he said. "I as a scientist say, show me your data,
> not only your data, but how you sampled it. Did you use sterile
> collection techniques?"
>
> Langerman said sulfur dioxide can be present in raisins, but said
> companies would not use it at high levels because it adds an eggy
> odor. "It's also easy to get rid of because it's a gas, so you let it
> dissipate," he said.
>
> Marion Nestle, a nutrition professor at New York University, said she
> didn't know why sulfur dioxide would pose a problem, since it's often
> used to preserve raisins and other dried fruit. She said raisins would
> be an unlikely host to bacteria because they are dry.
>
> "This looks like retaliation," she said, noting that the Chinese have
> complained that American authorities are holding their exports to food-
> safety standards that were never detailed.
>
> As for the herbal supplements, Nestle said the notice was too vague to
> know what might be in them, though she noted the Chinese are
> significant exporters of herbal supplements.
>
> Friday's announcement was the second mention in recent days of China
> rejecting foreign food imports. Late last month, France's Groupe
> Danone SA said China seized five containers of Evian water in February
> because of concern over high bacteria levels.
>
> Those came after concerns spiked over the safety of Chinese food
> exports following the deaths of cats and dogs in the United States and
> Canada blamed on tainted pet food ingredients from China.
>
> K-Max president Liei Ye did not immediately respond to a message left
> with the company Friday 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.