JAPAN: Japanese firm recalls Chinese-made dumplings contaminated by pesticides after ten people fall ill

Record ID: 464319

  • Title: JAPAN: Japanese firm recalls Chinese-made dumplings contaminated by pesticides after ten people fall ill
  • Date: 30th January 2008
  • Summary: (BN10)TOKYO, JAPAN (JANUARY 30, 2008) (REUTERS) JAPAN TOBACCO FOODS WEBSITE WITH DUMPLING PRODUCTS ON DISPLAY
  • Embargoed: 14th February 2008 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Japan
  • Country: Japan
  • Topics: Health
  • Reuters ID: LVAAVDJBERXG0TEYDJT0KJXJVGNS
  • Story Text: A Japanese food distributor on Wednesday (January 30) recalled fried dumplings made in China and found to be contaminated with pesticide after 10 people who ate them were hospitalised suffering from poisoning symptoms.
    "We have decided to recall voluntarily all the products made at the Tian-yang factory. We call on all our customers that have bought those products: Do not ever eat them," Mutsuo Iwai, Japan Tobacco's executive vice president, told a news conference which some television broadcasters aired live.
    Japanese television broadcasters also flashed warnings to viewers not to eat the products.
    Japan Tobacco Inc said its subsidiary, JT Foods Co., would recall the frozen fried dumplings and a list of 23 other food products made at the same Chinese factory.
    A family of five that ate the dumplings was still in hospital, including a five-year-old girl who had at one point been in critical condition, according to government officials. All ten victims were reported to have suffered severe bouts of vomitting and diarrhoea.
    China was hit by a series of food safety scares last year, though officials have said they are adopting new technology and tighter laws to try to ensure safe food both at home and in exports.
    Police found pesticide in the dumplings though it was not clear whether the fried dumpling dish, very popular in Japan, had been contaminated with the chemicals in China or in Japan, the official said.
    Called "gyoza" (pronounced 'gee-oh-zah" in Japanese), these fried dumplings are more common in Japan than China, which in general prefer their's steamed.
    A spokeswoman for Japan Tobacco, the world's third-largest cigarette maker, declined to comment on how the recall would impact on its food business, which accounts for only about 5 percent of the company's sales, but another subsidiary of Japan Tobacco, Katokichi, later also announced that it too was halting the import of 10 food products it has made at the same factory in the Hebei province of China.
    Speaking to Reuters over the phone, Katokichi said their measures were protective and not linked to any food poisoning cases.
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