German mitten crabs 'not qualified for import'

China's top inspection and quarantine authority warned on Thursday that mitten crabs from Germany are not qualified to be imported without going through quarantine after thousands of such crabs were ordered from an online shopping site.

The authority has not received any application for risk assessment and quarantine from German authorities for the crabs, the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine said on Thursday.

The mitten crabs were put on sale by a Suzhou-based e-commerce food company, Dadiyuansheng e-commerce co, on Sunday at its online store and juhuasuan.com, a group buying site under Alibaba group, China's largest e-commerce company.