No tainted pistachio nuts have been imported to China, said China's General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ) on Friday.

Setton Pistachio of Terra Bella Inc., a supplier for Kraft Foods Inc., is conducting a voluntarily recall after the Kraft notified the US Food and Drug Administration that it had detected food-poisoning salmonella bacteria in roasted pistachios through a routine product test.

China imported 12,889 tonnes of US-made pistachio nuts since 2008 to 2009, but none of them was processed or sold by Kraft or Setton, said the quality supervisor, adding that the US Embassy confirmed that no tainted pistachio nuts had been exported to China.

The AQSIQ has required local inspection and quarantine branches to step up checks on US-made pistachio nuts as a precaution, destroying or returning tainted pistachio nuts immediately when found.

(Xinhua News Agency April 11, 2009)