Chinatown merchants told Gov. Linda Lingle yesterday that reports of a downturn in their business due to tainted food have been overstated, although several acknowledged that the attention being given to Chinese exports has caused some hardships.

Mei Dong Lin, owner of the Hong Kong Supermarket on the corner of Maunakea and Hotel streets, said customer foot traffic typically goes down during the summer anyway, partly as a result of fewer tourists and partly because there are fewer local families who go into Chinatown when school is out.

But Hong Kong Supermarket, among the largest food retailers in Chinatown, has also seen business affected by the withholding, and sometimes ultimate rejection, of some exported items by federal inspectors, Lin said.

As a result, the market is no longer importing dried fish and frozen fish from China, Lin said. "Before it's not a problem; now it is," he said.

The loss of product has also had a small impact on customer traffic, he said.

Across the street at the Bo Wah Trading Co., Danny Au said the U.S. Department of Agriculture recently held a shipment of products from China for nine days, but released all his products, which included dried and salted fish and other dried food items.

Another federal agency, the Food & Drug Administration, part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, also has asked to inspect items at his Kalihi warehouse, although what they will be examining was not specified, Au said.

The new policies are nothing new for Chinatown merchants, Au said. A few years ago, federal inspectors cracked down on raw duck eggs, and so now he and others sell only salted and preserved duck eggs that are cooked and have to be certified by Chinese inspectors, he said.

A few customers have asked whether certain products are from China and, when told that they are, have chosen not to buy the items. "They're skeptical," Au said, noting that they are also not frequent customers.

Regulars, he said, know that he only purchases high-quality merchandise from reputable distributors. The trust he maintains with his distributors is the same type of relationship he maintains with his customers, he said.

"We want to make sure that they are confident our stuff is safe," Au said.

Chun Kui Wong, owner of Kwong Tong Chong on Maunakea Street, was among the merchants who assured the governor that a slight slowdown in business was largely due to seasonal issues and that the impacts caused by the stories of tainted food elsewhere have had little, if any, impact.

"I don't worry," Wong said, adding that he has been a Chinatown retailer for more than three decades.

"I know how to pick the right items. You've got to have the knowledge to pick the right merchandise."

Wong said he is able to sidestep inspection delays because he buys all of his China products from a distributor in San Francisco. That way, he said, his distributor is the one who has to deal with inspectors.

Lingle said she wanted to hear firsthand from merchants how they were doing.

"We wanted to spend some time talking to a variety of merchants about what, if any, the impact has been, because of some of the food and product problems out of China," she said. "They feel a majority of the reduction in business that they may have experienced this month is really something seasonal and is not tied to the food scares and product scares in China."

State Health Director Chi-yome Fukino, who accompanied the governor and Chinatown leaders on yesterday's walking tour, reiterated that no food products from China for human consumption have been specifically targeted for recall by either the federal or state governments. Items called into question have been certain types of toothpaste, dog food and farm-raised seafood.

While there has been a spate of food recalls nationally, they have dealt with U.S.-manufactured products. Last week, for instance, a slew of canned food products manufactured by California-based Castleberry Food Co. was voluntarily recalled.

In Hawai'i, a man on Maui was hospitalized after eating chili made by a Castleberry subsidiary.

Chinese officials have accused U.S. leaders of fostering fears about the potential for tainted Chinese-manufactured food.

An editorial written by a senior editor at the English-language China Daily, that appeared in yesterday's Web edition, was headlined: "Xenophobia at heart of product panic in U.S."

Reach Gordon Y.K. Pang at gpang@honoluluadvertiser.com.