In the midst of controversies over the safety of its own food exports, China has turned around to block food imports it has deemed unsafe. From the Wall Street Journal:
China refused a shipment of Evian bottled water for what it said were unsafe bacterial levels and Australian seafood it said was tainted with heavy metals, even as the country struggles to control a crisis of confidence in the safety of its own food supply.
The moves come after tainted wheat flour from China was linked to the deaths of pet dogs and cats in the U.S., prompting a huge recall of pet food. In late March, the Food and Drug Administration said it had identified a small Chinese manufacturer as the source of wheat flour contaminated with melamine, a chemical used in plastics and fire retardants, that turned up in the pet food. [Full text]
See also MSNBC’s “China Seizes Shipment of Evian Water” by Adam Jones that provides further information on Danone, the producer of Evian, and its recent business disputes with a Chinese joint venture partner.
