China's Quality Watchdog Warns on US Soybeans
Date: 23-Aug-07
Country: CHINA
"Recently, supervision bodies have found numerous quality problems in soybeans imported from the United States," the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine said on its Web site on Wednesday.
Harmful weeds and contaminated dirt had been found among the beans, which could threaten China's agricultural and forestry production and ecological safety. Some weeds contained toxic ingredients and would harm human or animal health, the quality watchdog said.
As an example, it said, a soybean cargo imported from the United States in February was found to contain red beans and two types of pesticides that constituted a "great threat" to the safety of Chinese consumers.
Some soybean shipments also fell short of protein or oil content, it added.
"These problems show that the soybeans that the United States exports to China have gaps in terms of planting, harvesting, storage, transportation and export supervision," it said.
China will strengthen its supervision over soybean imports to ensure the quality and safety of the beans, it said.
