U.S. companies focus on China

General Mills, Kellogg, Toys "R" Us and other big U.S. companies are increasing their scrutiny of thousands of everyday products they receive from Chinese suppliers, as widening recalls of items such as toys and toothpaste force them to focus on potential hazards that were overlooked in the past.

These corporations are stepping up analysis of imported goods that they sell, making more unannounced visits to Chinese factories for inspections and, in one case, pulling merchandise from U.S. shelves at the first hint of a problem.

General Mills, which makes food such as Pillsbury products and Chex cereals, is testing for potential contaminants it did not look for previously, although it would not name the substances.

Kellogg has increased its use of outside services that scrutinize Chinese suppliers and has identified alternative suppliers if vital ingredients become unavailable. Toys "R" Us recently hired two senior executives in new positions to oversee procurement and product safety, mainly for goods made in China.

"We're thinking in new ways about this," said Tom Forsythe, a General Mills spokesman. "We're looking for things we didn't look for in the past."

A Kellogg spokeswoman, Kris Charles, confirmed that retailers had asked whether the company used ingredients from China, including wheat gluten and soy protein, that were banned by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the United States.

The company had not, Charles said, but Kellogg took the extra step of scrutinizing the ingredients it does import from China, such as vitamins, honey, cinnamon, water chestnuts and freeze-dried strawberries. It also screened its Chinese suppliers for links to the recent pet-food recall.

Recent discoveries of tainted or defective products from China — including toothpaste, tires, toys and fish — have prompted U.S. lawmakers to fault companies for compromising quality in their quest for inexpensive imports and higher profits.

If companies do not improve their safeguards and more tainted goods are found entering the United States, the safety of imports could take on a bigger political dimension, the lawmakers said.

"Food companies have been among the most resistant to informing the public about their ingredients," said Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, a leading congressional critic of China. "Now that's more worrisome because these ingredients are coming from an unregulated environment."

No human deaths or serious injuries from Chinese food products have been reported in the United States, although counterfeit Chinese glycerin has been linked to at least 100 deaths in Panama.

In May, senior members of the Bush administration, including Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns, raised food-safety issues with Chinese officials during trade talks in Washington. In a step designed to reassure Western customers, the Chinese government last week said it had closed 180 food plants and identified 23,000 safety violations.

Although they affect a fraction of imports from China, the rising tempo of alerts, including an FDA restriction imposed Thursday on five types of Chinese-farmed seafood, has called attention to China's sudden emergence as a major agricultural exporter. Between 2002 and 2006, FDA-regulated imports of food from China rose from about 100,000 shipments to nearly 235,000. Experts predict those shipments will reach 300,000 this year.

The recalls and rising volume of exports have highlighted another worry: the increasing dependence of the biggest U.S. food manufacturers on China for a basic additive such as apple juice, a common sweetener and preservatives such as ascorbic acid.

These little-known additives form the building blocks of many popular staples in U.S. kitchens, keeping fruit from turning brown or providing the sweetness in breakfast bars. Food experts note, for example, that China supplies more than half of all apple juice imported by the United States, up from a fraction a decade ago.

Other common additives have followed a sharper trajectory, said Peter Kovacs, former chief executive of NutraSweet Kelco and now a food-industry consultant. More than 80 percent of ascorbic acid, better known as vitamin C and also used as a preservative, comes from China, Kovacs said. Chinese imports of xanthan gum, used to thicken dairy products and salad dressings, account for at least 40 percent of U.S. consumption.

"This is a problem for the whole food chain, but it was a blank spot," Kovacs said. "They're doing it now, but companies weren't testing these additives before."

Although Kellogg and General Mills disclosed these additional steps, they were reticent to provide additional details. And many food makers are nervous about discussing the issue.

Not every company is altering its approach. Agricultural giant Cargill said, "Our practices, which include fully vetting suppliers and conducting supplier audits, have not changed."

Consumers are not sure whom to trust.

"If you buy Cheerios, it's a brand name, but you turn the box over, it doesn't give you the list of where the ingredients are ... from," Michael O'Brien, 59, said as he shopped at a Food Emporium in New York, referring to the General Mills cereal. "It absolutely concerns me because you never truly know the origin of your product."

New York Times report Kai Ma contributed to this report.