US companies increase scrutiny of Chinese products
Tuesday, 3 July 2007
NEW YORK, July 2 (PTI): General Mills, Kellogg, Toys R Us are among major United States (US) companies which are increasing their scrutiny of thousands of everyday products they receive from Chinese suppliers, as increasing recalls of items like toys and toothpaste force them to focus on potential hazards that were overlooked in the past.
These corporations are stepping up their analysis of imported goods that they sell, making more unannounced visits to Chinese factories for inspections and, in one case, pulling merchandise from American shelves at the first hint of a problem, the New York Times said Sunday.
General Mills, which makes food products like Pillsbury dough and Chex cereals, is testing for potential contaminants that it did not look for previously, although it would not name the substances, the newspaper said, Kellogg has increased its use of outside services that scrutinise Chinese suppliers and has identified alternative suppliers if vital ingredients become unavailable.
And Toys R Us recently hired two senior executives in new positions to oversee procurement and product safety, mainly for goods made in China.
"We are thinking in new ways about this," Tom Forsythe, a spokesman for General Mills, told the Times.
"We are looking for things we didn't look for in the past," a Kellogg spokesperson, Kris Charles, was quoted as confirming that retailers had asked whether the company used ingredients from China that were banned by the Food and Drug Administration in the United States, including wheat gluten and soy protein.
These corporations are stepping up their analysis of imported goods that they sell, making more unannounced visits to Chinese factories for inspections and, in one case, pulling merchandise from American shelves at the first hint of a problem, the New York Times said Sunday.
General Mills, which makes food products like Pillsbury dough and Chex cereals, is testing for potential contaminants that it did not look for previously, although it would not name the substances, the newspaper said, Kellogg has increased its use of outside services that scrutinise Chinese suppliers and has identified alternative suppliers if vital ingredients become unavailable.
And Toys R Us recently hired two senior executives in new positions to oversee procurement and product safety, mainly for goods made in China.
"We are thinking in new ways about this," Tom Forsythe, a spokesman for General Mills, told the Times.
"We are looking for things we didn't look for in the past," a Kellogg spokesperson, Kris Charles, was quoted as confirming that retailers had asked whether the company used ingredients from China that were banned by the Food and Drug Administration in the United States, including wheat gluten and soy protein.