China Urges U.S. Not to Punish All Food Exporters
By DAVID BARBOZA
Published: May 17, 2007
中國(guó)敦促美國(guó)不要懲罰所有的食品出口企業(yè)
SHANGHAI, May 16 — China has urged the United States not to take punitive action against this country’s exporters of agricultural goods even though Chinese officials have determined that two Chinese companies intentionally contaminated American pet food ingredients with an industrial chemical.
紐約時(shí)報(bào)上海5月16日電---中國(guó)敦促美國(guó)不要對(duì)中國(guó)農(nóng)產(chǎn)品出口企業(yè)采取懲罰性行動(dòng),盡管中國(guó)官員已經(jīng)確認(rèn)兩家中國(guó)企業(yè)曾故意向美國(guó)寵物食品中添加一種工業(yè)化學(xué)品。
The government said this week that it had shut the two companies and detained several of their officers for their roles in setting off one of the largest pet food recalls in United States history.
中國(guó)政府本周說,這兩家企業(yè)已經(jīng)被關(guān)閉,并拘留了幾名和造成美國(guó)歷史上最大的寵物食品召回事件之一有關(guān)的官員。
The announcement, which was released late Monday, on the Web site of the country’s quality inspection watchdog, appeared just days after investigators from the federal Food and Drug Administration ended a two-week-long visit to China seeking to determine how an industrial chemical called melamine got mixed into pet food ingredients.
周一晚些時(shí)候,中國(guó)質(zhì)量檢測(cè)機(jī)構(gòu)的網(wǎng)站上發(fā)布了這項(xiàng)聲明。之前幾天,美國(guó)FDA的調(diào)查人員結(jié)束了在中國(guó)為期兩周的行程,他們此行的目的是確定一種叫三聚氰胺的工業(yè)化學(xué)品是如何混入寵物食品的。
“We hope the American side will accurately and objectively deal with problems among individual companies and not take stringent measures against other Chinese companies producing the same type of products,” the government statement read.
中國(guó)政府聲明中稱,“希望美方正確客觀地對(duì)待個(gè)別企業(yè)出現(xiàn)的問題,不要對(duì)中國(guó)其他企業(yè)同類產(chǎn)品采取嚴(yán)厲措施。”
China also said it hoped the case would not lead to trade frictions.
中國(guó)(政府)還希望這個(gè)事件不會(huì)造成貿(mào)易摩擦。
A spokesman for the F.D.A. in Washington could not be reached for comment. On Tuesday, however, F.D.A. officials said during a news conference that American investigators had recently returned from China and were preparing a report on the trip. The official said it was unclear when such a report would be released.
華盛頓FDA發(fā)言人還未對(duì)此事發(fā)表評(píng)論。周二,F(xiàn)DA官員在一個(gè)新聞發(fā)布會(huì)上說,美國(guó)調(diào)查人員已經(jīng)回國(guó),并在途中準(zhǔn)備了一份報(bào)告,但該報(bào)告何時(shí)對(duì)外公布還不清楚。
The announcement was the clearest signal yet that China was working hard to repair the damage done by the pet food scandal and growing concerns about the quality of the country’s agricultural exports.
中國(guó)政府的聲明是一個(gè)清晰的信號(hào),表明中國(guó)正在努力消除寵物食品丑聞造成的損害,并對(duì)中國(guó)出口農(nóng)產(chǎn)品質(zhì)量更加關(guān)注。
In recent weeks, China has vowed to step up its own inspections of agricultural and food exports and prove that the country does not have a problem with melamine-tainted food or feed ingredients.
近幾周,中國(guó)宣誓將加快它對(duì)出口農(nóng)產(chǎn)品和食品的檢驗(yàn),并證明它已不存在三聚氰胺污染食品及飼料添加劑的問題。
The General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine said in its statement this week and in a similar statement released a week earlier that recently completed nationwide inspections had not turned up any food or feed products containing melamine.
國(guó)家質(zhì)量監(jiān)督檢驗(yàn)檢疫總局在本周發(fā)布的聲明和更早些時(shí)候發(fā)布的一個(gè)類似聲明中說,最近完成的全國(guó)范圍內(nèi)的檢驗(yàn)行動(dòng)沒有發(fā)現(xiàn)任何含有三聚氰胺的食品或飼料產(chǎn)品。
The government seems determined to paint the two Chinese companies blamed for exporting melamine-tainted wheat flour to the United States as rogue companies, or “special individual cases” in a largely well-managed export industry.
中國(guó)政府似乎決定,將那兩個(gè)向美國(guó)出口含三聚氰胺的麥麩的兩家中國(guó)公司,描述成害群之馬,或一個(gè)在很大范圍內(nèi)管理良好的出口行業(yè)中的“個(gè)別案例”。
The government’s announcement, however, seems quite at odds with local Chinese agricultural industry executives. In recent weeks, they have said in interviews that for years producers and feed makers have either used melamine in animal feed, sold it to animal and fish feed producers or knew of the sale and use of melamine in animal feed.
然而政府聲明似乎和中國(guó)農(nóng)業(yè)管理人員的看法不同。最近幾周他們?cè)诮邮懿稍L時(shí)說,數(shù)年來飼料生產(chǎn)商在動(dòng)物食品中使用三聚氰胺、出售三聚氰胺并了解三聚氰胺在動(dòng)物飼料中的銷售和使用情況。
Interviews with animal feed producers, melamine makers and melamine and feed traders suggested that it was a widespread practice to mix melamine into feed to deceive buyers into thinking they were getting higher-protein meal.
飼料生產(chǎn)商、三聚氰胺制造商和飼料經(jīng)銷商在采訪中暗示,將三聚氰胺混入飼料使買家誤以為蛋白含量高的做法,是個(gè)廣為傳播的做法。
Most of the people interviewed said they did not believe that the practice was illegal or that melamine was toxic in animals or humans; the melamine was simply filler, most of them said, a way of earning extra profits.
多數(shù)被采訪者說,他們認(rèn)為這種做法并非違法,三聚氰胺對(duì)動(dòng)物或人無毒,只是一種簡(jiǎn)單的填料,這是獲取額外利潤(rùn)的一種途徑。