China calls for reason as food safety fears mount

BEIJING (Reuters) - Under pressure after a U.S. move against Chinese seafood and a huge recall of Chinese toothpaste in Japan, Beijing urged trade partners on Friday to accept its products unless they violate contract terms or local regulations.

China also announced the appointment of a new health minister, a Paris-trained scientist and only the second non-Party member to be named to a ministerial post since the 1970s, but gave no reason for the change.

Intense global scrutiny of the safety of Chinese exports has been spurred by the discovery of contaminated food, dangerous chemicals in pet food and medicines and lead paint on toys.

At home, China has announced crackdowns on fake medicines and unsafe food. Earlier this year, the head of the food and drug watchdog agency was sentenced to death for corruption.

"In principle, if you don't find (any problem), Chinese goods should be allowed to be exported," said Wang Xinpei, a ministry spokesman in Beijing.

"Businessmen have already signed contracts based on mutual trust. They must have included terms of quality and usage in their contracts. Only if the shipments violated these terms or the importing country's quarantine rules should they be stopped. Otherwise, they should be accepted."

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said on Thursday it would not allow imports of Chinese farm-raised seafood unless suppliers could prove the shipments contained no harmful residue.

China is the largest producer of farmed fish, handling 50 percent of the total value of global aquaculture seafood exports around the world. It is also the third-largest exporter of seafood to the United States.

The U.S. ambassador also met with the head of China's quarantine administration to press for a reopening of China's markets to American beef imports, suspended since 2003 due to an outbreak of mad cow disease.

FISH, TOOTHPASTE

U.S. regulators have been meeting with China's General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine at least since May over catfish, after the states of Alabama and Mississippi -- both major producers -- banned imports of the fish, citing high levels of fluoroquinolones, an antibiotic.

Inspectors have continued to find residues of veterinary drugs and food additives not permitted for use in the United States in farmed fish products, an FDA official said.

The FDA said there was no immediate threat to public safety because of the low levels of the substances in farmed catfish, shrimp and other seafood, but health problems could develop if the items were consumed over long periods of time.

The Ministry of Commerce spokesman said China applied international standards and quarantine procedures to food exports.

He had no immediate comment on whether the ministry was addressing the latest concerns from the United States.

In a separate case, nine Japanese companies are recalling Chinese-made toothpaste found to contain diethylene glycol, an industrial solvent, at concentrations as high as 8.5 percent.

Millions of small tubes of the toothpaste were packaged with a toothbrush and sold to hotels throughout the country, a Japanese Health Ministry official said on Friday. One firm alone is seeking to recall three million tubes.

Regulators in Hong Kong, Singapore, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and the United States have warned of toothpaste contaminated with diethylene glycol. The substance was responsible for at least 100 deaths in Panama after it was mixed into cough syrup.

China has launched a crackdown on unsafe food and medicines.

The Beijing News said on Friday the latest steps included seeking feedback from citizens about a new regulation banning toxic nitrates in restaurants, and fining food makers up to 500,000 yuan ($66,000) for problematic products.

Beijing has also banned 10 types of medicine, charging producers wilfully exaggerated their effects on high blood pressure, diabetes and skin problems and seriously misled consumers, the paper reported.

($1=7.614 yuan)

(Additional reporting by Niu Shuping and Vivi Lin and by George Nishiyama in Tokyo)