China warns US food companies over substandard potato

China's State Bureau of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (SBQSIQ) has ordered all of the country's inspection and quarantine agencies to strengthen the inspection of the level of bleach residue in imported mashed-potato powder, ChinaOnline reports this week. Between February and May of this year, Shanghai's and Xiamen's Bureaus of Exit-Entry Inspection and Quarantine both found an exceedingly high level of bleaching agents in about 40,000 kilograms (88,184 pounds) of mashed-potato powder sent from the United States to a fast-food restaurant chain. Because the powder did not meet China's food-safety standards, the bureaus' ruled it as a substandard food and returned the shipments, the Aug. 3 Renmin Ribao (People's Daily) reported. Since May, one shipment of U.S. mashed-potato powder was similarly turned away at Xiamen for being substandard, and no other mashed-potato powder has been imported into China from the United States. The SBQSIQ has sent a notice to the U. S. embassy in China regarding the inspection of substandard mashed-potato powder shipped to China from the United States. The bureau has asked the U. S. government to notify American companies about the need to make sure that food exported to China meets the quality and safety standards mandated by Chinese laws, the story said.