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Business and Finance
Toxic Evian?Posted by Jeremy Goldkorn, May 31, 2007 10:49 AM
Recent American concerns about the safety of food products from China seems to be matched by Chinese concern about food products from France and Australia:
On May 17, China refused a shipment of five shipping containers of bottled Evian water, made by Groupe Danone. The General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, said that the water contained unsafe bacterial levels. The Wall Street Journal quoted a spokeswoman for Danone who said "The difference is that the Chinese authorities have different standards based on treated water ... When you have treated water, you have much less natural bacteria." She also said that Evian complies with French and European safety standards. According to The Financial Times "Danone said that there was no link between the Wahaha row and the Evian incident", referring to Danone's ongoing dispute with their Chinese joint venture partner. Reuters has also reported that China refused 30 tons of Australian frozen seafood because of heavy metal contamination. The moves above do not seem to be a reaction to the recent negative press coverage about Chinese food product safety. In fact, the refusals of imported food products show that China does have high standards for safety written into law. But like most laws here in the Wild East, they are unenforceable. Links and Sources
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Comments on Toxic Evian?
They're probably right that there is no link between the Wahaha row and the refusal of the allegedly tainted water. However, Chinese firms are adept at wielding foreign rivals' transgressions against them in the media. I wouldn't be surprised to see Zong Qinghou flogging this situation in the media. Keep an eye open.
The WSJ's original web article (pulled rather quickly) had quite a bit on the potential link between these seizures and the Wahaha dispute. That deleted section can be found here.