WASHINGTON (AFP) - US grocery chain Trader Joe's said Monday it would stop selling food imported from China due to customers' concerns about the products' safety.
"Our customers have voiced concerns about products from this region and we have listened," Trader Joe's spokeswoman Alison Mochizuki said in a statement.
"All single ingredient food items sourced from mainland China are scheduled to be out of our stores by April 1," she said.
"We will continue to source products from other regions until our customers feel as confident as we do about the quality and safety of Chinese products."
A series of consumer scares last year involving harmful products from major exporter China, including seafood, cat food, medicines and toys, led to mass product recalls and the tightening of US safety regulations.
Trader Joe's, which focuses partly on selling organic food, was founded in California in the 1960s.