ANOTHER SCARE HITS FAITH IN CHINESE EXPORTS

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Three Japanese companies have begun to recall millions of tubes of toothpaste made in China after they were found to contain a chemical used in antifreeze.

The alert over the toothpaste, which contained small quantities of the industrial solvent diethylene glycol, is the latest in a series of scares about the quality of Chinese-made consumer products that could hit confidence in the country's vast export machine.

Beijing made a rare official response yesterday to such concerns. Wang Xinpei, a commerce ministry official, said the government “has paid great attention” to the issue of safety, especially regarding food products, adding: “It can be said that the quality of China's exports are all guaranteed.”

Foreign diplomats have expressed concern that the controversy over the quality of Chinese goods could prompt retaliatory measures. On Tuesday Beijing said it had impounded two shipments of food imports from the US.

US authorities have in recent months recalled or turned away a number of Chinese products, including toothpaste, toys containing lead paint, ingredients for pet food, fish and tyres.

Earlier this week Chinese officials said they had closed 180 food manufacturing businesses that had used industrial additives including formaldehyde, paraffin and dyes in food products.

The General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, which monitors the safety of China's food network, said the companies had been closed during inspections held between December and May. Most were small, un- licensed plants with fewer than 10 employees.

“These are not isolated cases,” Han Yi, head of the agency's inspection department, was quoted as saying in China Daily, the official English-language newspaper. He did not say if any of the plants exported products.

In Japan, a government official said yesterday that Chinese-made toothpaste – in sets that included a small tube and toothbrush, which had been sold to hotels around the country – contained up to 6.2 per cent diethylene glycol.




三家日本公司已经开始召回数百万管中国生产的牙膏。此前，有人发现这些牙膏含有一种用于防冻剂的化学物质。

此次针对牙膏的警报，是一系列与中国制造的消费产品质量相关的恐慌事件中最新发生的一起。这种恐慌可能会打击人们对中国这一庞大出口机器的信心。此次召回的牙膏含有少量的工业溶剂二甘醇。

昨日，中国政府对此类担忧进行了罕见的官方回应。商务部官员王新培表示：“关于食品安全，特别是涉及人的身体健康安全，中国一向都是重视的。”他补充指出：“应该说中国出口的产品质量都是有保证的。”

外国外交官表示，他们担心对中国产品质量的争议可能引发报复性措施。本周二，中国政府表示，扣留了两船从美国运来的进口食品。

近几个月来，美国有关部门召回或退回了许多中国产品，其中包括牙膏、含有铅涂料的玩具、宠物食品成分、鱼和轮胎。

本周早些时候，中国官员表示，他们关闭了180家食品生产企业，这些企业在产品中使用了甲醛、石蜡和染料等工业添加剂。

中国国家质量监督检验检疫总局(General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine)表示，在去年12月到今年5月进行的检查中，有很多公司被关闭。其中大多数是雇员不足10人的小型无照工厂。

中国官方英文报纸《中国日报》(China Daily)引用质检总局执法督查司副司长韩毅的话说：“这些事件不是孤立的。”他并没有提到这些工厂的产品是否出口。

在日本，一名政府官员昨日表示，这些中国产牙膏最多含有6.2%的二甘醇。这些包括一小管牙膏和一支牙刷的牙膏套装，一直出售给日本各家酒店。