China promises stricter regulation of antibiotics in food after latest scare in Germany
Germany joined other nations in complaining about the safety of
Chinese products, the Ministry of Agriculture said.
China is to tighten use of a potent antibiotic in food after Germany joined other nations in complaining about the safety of Chinese products, the Ministry of Agriculture said.
Germany said this week that the drug, chloramphenicol, was found in freshwater crab, fish and sausage ingredients from China, as well as in imported Chinese honey in late February.
Britain's watchdog body the Food Standards Authority acted by recommending the Chinese honey contaminated with chloramphenicol be removed from UK shelves.
In another food case, Russia said it would suspend imports of Chinese pork, beef and poultry from 15 March because China had failed to cooperate with its veterinary services.
Various regions, including the European Union, Hong Kong and Japan, have expressed health concerns in the past year over some Chinese food products.
A Chinese Agriculture ministry official said China had been trying to be more stringent with the antibiotic chloramphenicol since late last year when it was found in shrimps shipped to the European Union. The drug can stop red blood cell production.
"The EU's standard is different from ours. We're working towards a standard that will be more in line with the EU's," the Chinese official told Reuters.
A spokeswoman at China's Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Commission told Reuters it was "looking into" the complaints from Russia and Germany but declined further comment.
Germany's chloramphenicol discovery and Russia's suspension of some Chinese meat imports were likely to have only a limited impact on China's food firms because exports were small, industry officials said.
"We don't export to Russia," said an official at Shanghai Dajiang, one of China's biggest poultry producers.
"Our products go to mainly Japan and other Asian countries."
German Junior Agriculture and Consumer Protection Minister Alexander Mueller said in a statement earlier this week that the Chinese shrimps containing chloramphenicol had been imported by Spain and the Netherlands.
He said fair competition in international trade was only possible if food safety standards were maintained.
