[caption id="attachment_4809" align="aligncenter" width="1014"]
File Photo[/caption]
China said on Friday (July 10, 2020) that it was suspending imports from three Ecuadorian shrimp producers after it detected coronavirus in a recent shipment, accusing one Ecuadorian producer of tarnishing the industry's reputation.
China’s customs authority said samples from shipments from Industrial Pesquera Santa Priscila SA, Empacreci SA and Empacadora Del Pacifico Sociedad Anonima had produced six positive results. However, tests on the frozen shrimp and inner packaging were negative.
The findings are the first positive results announced by Beijing since it began testing imported frozen foods for presence of the virus.
“The test results suggested that the container environment and the outer packaging of the goods of the three companies were at risk of contamination ... and the companies’ food safety management system was not in order,” the General Administration of Customs said in a statement on its website.
Two of the Ecuadorean companies involved issued sharply worded statements noting that the virus was found only within the walls of the container, adding that China was exaggerating the potential risks.
“It is regrettable that with the result of (coronavirus found) ‘inside the wall of the container’ they are tarnishing the reputation of our industry,” Santa Priscila President Santiago Salem said in a statement.
China began testing imported fresh and frozen food after the coronavirus was found on a chopping board used to cut salmon at a large food market in Beijing during an outbreak of the coronavirus among workers there.
Many Chinese buyers have halted imports of salmon and the fish has been removed from supermarket shelves. Find more...
Source: Online/SZK
Comment Now