Safety experts relax ban on Chinese food

Date: 23/05/02

FOOD safety experts have approved Commission proposals to relax a controversial ban on animal-based Chinese food products thought to contain a powerful antibiotic.

Tests have shown that some of the banned goods were, in fact, free from chloramphenicol, an antibiotic that has been linked to the causes of cancer.

Now, Chinese gelatine, Alaskan pollack, cod and redfish, and crustaceans caught in the Atlantic and landed in the EU, can be sold in the Union.

Under the decision - which follows increased testing by the EU and information from the Chinese - inspectors will vet 20% of all imports of the approved goods until the end of September.

But the Standing Committee on the Food Chain and Animal Health said restrictions must remain in place for imports of a range of other products, notably poultry, rabbit, honey and certain fish products.

The decision to ban the Chinese foods caused outrage in Beijing, where officials said it breached World Trade Organisation rules.

External Trade Minister Shi Guangsheng said China 'could not accept the [original] decision' which affected goods worth 327.7million euro each year.

Food safety experts have approved European Commission proposals to relax a controversial ban on animal-based Chinese food products thought to contain a powerful antibiotic.