BEIJING (AP) China, on
the defensive over the
safety of its products,
lashed out Wednesday at
the U.S. by claiming its
soybean exports
contained pesticides,
poisonous weeds and dirt
and blaming American
manufacturer Mattel Inc.
in part for lead
tainting that prompted
the recall of millions
of toys.
China is facing a global
backlash following
discoveries of high
levels of chemicals and
toxins in a range of
Chinese exports from
toothpaste and seafood
to pet food ingredients
and toys. Beijing has
tried to defend its
safety record and
reassure consumers by
highlighting similar
problems in other
countries.
``Numerous quality
problems'' have been
found with American
soybeans, the General
Administration of
Quality Supervision,
Inspection and
Quarantine said in a
notice posted Wednesday
on its Web site.
``We've already made
exchanges with the
United States, demanded
an investigation into
the cause, and asked
that effective measures
be taken to improve the
situation to avoid
similar incidents from
happening again,'' the
Chinese watchdog agency
said.
One batch of beans in
February was found to
contain red beans and
pesticides that
constituted a ``great
potential hazard to the
food safety of Chinese
consumers,'' it said.
Soybeans, which are
mainly crushed for oil
and used as animal feed,
are the biggest single
U.S. farm export to
China, according to the
American Soybean
Association. China has
bought billions of
dolleguards.
``Safety of children is
of the utmost importance
to Mattel. We have been
working around the clock
to improve our system
and have already
instituted changes in
our required
procedures,'' the
company said in a
statement. ``This
includes the launch of
an improved three point
check system, part of
which is testing of
every production run of
finished toys to ensure
compliance.''
But Li said Mattel
neglected to ``do its
job well in quality
inspections.'' He did
not give any details or
say how the producers
did not follow
standards.
Li
said profit margins in
China's toy industry are
low and ``it's hard to
make money'' because of
the cost of labor and
materials. He warned
foreign companies run
the risk of getting
shoddy products if they
demand too low a price
from Chinese
manufacturers.
``If you give a high
price for purchasing,
the factories will use
high quality raw
materials to produce.
But if the price is low,
they can only use
inferior raw
materials,'' said Li.
U.S. safety officials
have said no injuries
had been reported from
any of the products and
the broad scope of the
recalls was intended to
prevent potential
problems.