U.S. tries to sell beef to China amid food disputes
BEIJING (Reuters) - The United States has again requested access to the Chinese market for American beef, the quarantine administration said, despite a spate of safety and trade disputes over Chinese seafood and pet food and U.S. fruit.
China has banned American beef since 2003, after an outbreak of mad cow disease in the United States that year.
The U.S. ambassador to China, Clark Randt, met quarantine chief Li Changjiang and forwarded him a letter concerning U.S beef exports to China on Thursday, China's quarantine administration said in a brief notice on its Website on Friday.
Officials from both sides declined further comment.
Earlier this month, a senior U.S agriculture official said the United States had seen no sign China would soon drop the ban on U.S. beef. U.S. officials pushed for concessions on the issue when Chinese vice premier Wu Yi visited Washington in May.
The U.S. beef industry had been hoping to resume trade by June 2006, after what it called a commitment from China. But the two governments still disagree about import rules.
South Korea and Japan also stopped importing U.S. beef in 2003, and U.S. negotiators have been trying to restore trade.
Seoul, once the No. 3 customer for U.S. beef, resumed imports of boneless beef from U.S. cattle less than 30 months of age in April. It briefly suspended trade this month after finding bone-in beef among the U.S. shipments.
The safety of food and goods from China has come under intense global scrutiny, spurred by a series of scandals over lead paint used on toys and dangerous chemicals in pet food and medicines.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said on Thursday it would not allow imports of Chinese farm-raised seafood unless suppliers could prove the shipments were free from harmful residue, while Japanese companies supplying toothpaste in kits to hotels launched a recall.
China said it seized two shipments from the United States of preserved apricots and orange pulp earlier this week, citing health concerns.
