 Hebei Province government official answers questions from reporters in front of a factory of Hebei Foodstuffs Import and Export Group Tianyang Food Processing in Shijiazhuang, Hebei Province, on Thursday. |
Posted on 02/01/2008 12:04:43 AM PST by TigerLikesRooster
Hebei Province government official answers questions from reporters in front of a factory of Hebei Foodstuffs Import and Export Group Tianyang Food Processing in Shijiazhuang, Hebei Province, on Thursday. |
The number of people who complained of sickness after eating frozen food products made in China has surged to 368 in 30 prefectures as of Thursday, The Yomiuri Shimbun has learned.
It was revealed Wednesday that 10 people in three families in Chiba and Hyogo prefectures showed symptoms of food poisoning between Dec. 28 and Jan. 22 after eating frozen gyoza dumplings imported by JT Foods Co., an affiliate of Japan Tobacco Inc., and nine were hospitalized.
The two prefectural police forces found methamidophos, an organic phosphorus agricultural chemical, in the dumplings and in their packaging.
The Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry on Thursday urged companies across the nation to stop selling and importing products from the Chinese company that exported the contaminated dumplings.
The ministry released the names of the 18 importers in Tokyo and four prefectures and their products.
Toshiro Shirasu, administrative vice minister at the Agricultural, Fisheries and Forestry Ministry, said Thursday the government would investigate the use of agricultural chemicals in China via the Japanese Embassy there.
According to JT Foods, the frozen gyoza products in question are Co-op Tezukuri Gyoza (handmade gyoza dumplings) and Chuka de Gochiso Hitokuchi Gyoza (delicious Chinese-style bite-size dumplings).
The dumplings were made at a factory of Hebei Foodstuffs Import and Export Group Tianyang Food Processing in Shijiazhuang, Hebei Province, China, according to JT Foods.
The Yomiuri Shimbun also learned Tianyang Food products have been served to at least 262 primary, middle and high schools and kindergartens in 18 prefectures. No one at the schools has complained of food poisoning symptoms.
On Wednesday evening, JT sent an official of its quality control department to Tianyang Food's plant, but the official failed to obtain samples because he arrived after Chinese authorities inspected the site.
However, the JT official did find records of chemical residue examinations of raw materials as well as records regarding vegetable farming.
The official plans to investigate if it was possible for methamidophos to become mixed into the food products during the production process. He also will question plant workers. The investigation is expected to take at least a week, and JT says it may send more officials.
JT Foods received about 700 inquiries and complaints on Wednesday and Thursday.
Pesticide was either:1)put there to kill bugs eating the flour or meat, or 2) put there by a “non-forward-looking” worker that hates Japanese. Either one is typical of third-world thinkng and a good reason to avoid foodstuffs from them.
Pesticide was either:1)put there to kill bugs eating the flour or meat, or 2) put there by a “non-forward-looking” worker that hates Japanese. Either one is typical of third-world thinkng and a good reason to avoid foodstuffs from them.From what I heard there were small holes drilled in the packages and the chemical was inserted.
why isn't some Japanese don't like themselves want to kill them...?Heh... sure, and a meteor could have hit the boat as they were coming over. Which do you think is more likely given the current quality problems in China?
Just signed up today! Welcome to FReerepublic...
You should fill out your profile page so we know something about you. Are you new to the U.S. as well?
Check #5. We got zips in the wire. Particularly the PRC types. Funny, but it will be shortlived.
No way!! ;-)
And I love gyoza. I need to look as I bet some are JT Foods brand in the freezer. More incentive to make my own.
I buy all my ramin, gyoza and shumai made in Japan from Yokohama, which are the best in the world.....
those are the little tire shaped shu mei, right? %^)
Yes and the center is filled with seasoned pork and are best steamed, served with a spicy mustard. Can you say Oishi (Oy shee)????
I wish I were clever enough an artist to create a Chinese flag “skull & bones” flag.
That’ll take care of the Japanese market for Chinese food.
I’ll betcha EVERYTHING from China is now banned there, or boycotted by the people.
IBTZ.
Just because they like to kill themselves, doesn’t mean it’s OK for someone else to do it. (If I interpreted that correctly)
Fresh gyoza - Oishi Oishi!!
This could be Japan’s version of the tylenol poisoning where the package was tampered with after it left the factory.
TOKYO — The government decided Friday to ask companies and groups involved in importing and distributing food products to ensure their safety, amid a scare over food poisoning caused by China-made frozen "gyoza" dumplings, officials said.
Meanwhile, a small hole was found in a package and tray of dumplings in the food poisoning case in Hyogo Prefecture, and a high concentration of harmful pesticide 100-400 times above quarantine standards was detected in traces in the remaining dumplings in the case in Chiba Prefecture.
In connection with the late discovery and reporting of the incidents, the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry plans to revise the Food Sanitation Law to require local authorities to report even small-scale food poisoning cases to the central government, the officials said.
A panel of experts will soon review the law, the officials said, as public criticism has grown over Chiba city's decision to leave the first outbreak of the incident unreported for nearly a month.
According to a Kyodo News tally based on reports to local authorities and other sources, the number of people claiming to be ill due to dumplings and other products made by the Chinese firm in question came to 1,117 people in 39 of Japan's 47 prefectures as of 11 p.m. Friday. They include government-confirmed cases of 10 people becoming sick in Chiba and Hyogo prefectures after consuming such dumplings contaminated with harmful pesticide.
Police said they have found a hole 3 millimeters in diameter in a package of frozen dumplings, and a hole 1 mm in diameter in the inside container, that a family in Takasago, Hyogo Prefecture, ate before feeling sick in early January. They suspect someone may have pierced the package with a needle or other object to inject a pesticide into it.
The hole was not made by the family or investigators, the police said. The National Police Agency said no such hole was found in the package of dumplings that a family in Chiba city consumed in late December.
In the Chiba case, however, it was found that remaining uncooked frozen dumplings contained organophosphate pesticide, called methamidophos, with a high concentration of 130 ppm, or 100-400 times that of quarantine standards such as 1.0 ppm for cabbages and 0.3 ppm for Chinese leeks — the two vegetables commonly used in meat-vegetable dumplings.
"The detected concentration is high and is unbelievable for the amount of residual agricultural chemicals," a health ministry official said.
The Chiba prefectural police have also found traces of the pesticide in both the dough and fillings of the remaining uncooked dumplings, prompting them to begin investigating how the highly concentrated chemicals made their way into the inner part of the dumplings.
The government held a meeting of senior officials from related ministries and agencies Friday evening to discuss how to deal with the incidents, and agreed to seek cooperation from outside the government, such as from importers and distributors, to try to ensure the safety of imported foods before they reach consumers.
Fumio Kishida, state minister in charge of quality-of-life policy affairs, who attended the meeting, later told reporters, "We talked about seeking cooperation from related groups to ensure safety."
He also said the participants agreed to consider how to receive a five-member Chinese government delegation scheduled to visit Japan to look into the food-poisoning cases, including what kind of questions and demands the Japanese government should make to them.
At the outset of the meeting, initially scheduled for 30 minutes but lasting an extra 45 minutes, Kishida said Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda was "very aware of" the seriousness of the situation.
"I believe we need to implement measures as soon as possible so as to prevent the spread of damage and ensure food safety," the state minister said.
Earlier in the day, Yukio Hatoyama, secretary general of the main opposition Democratic Party of Japan, criticized the government for not taking prompt steps, saying it should immediately stop importing the goods in question and send an inspection team to China.
Hatoyama told a press conference that the DPJ has decided to set up a taskforce, headed by him, to examine the food-poisoning issue.
DPJ policy chief Masayuki Naoshima paid a call on Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura on Friday night to ask the government to hold a full-scale investigation into the incidents, including inspections in China.
Earlier in the day, health minister Yoichi Masuzoe criticized the Chiba and Hyogo prefectural governments, saying the central government could have prevented the spread of the poisoning had it obtained information on the first outbreak in late December.
Masuzoe indicated at a news conference that it is indispensable for the government to swiftly gather information to be able to cope better with such incidents.
The Food Sanitation Law requires prefectures and major cities to report food poisoning cases that sicken 50 or more people to the state. Even if the number of patients falls below 50, local authorities must report cases that involve fatalities, imported food suspected of causing food poisoning or damage found in more than one prefecture.
The ministry will consider tightening the law by lowering the number of patients to around 10 and obliging local authorities to report even when incidents do not involve fatalities but involve serious symptoms, according to the officials.
Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura urged the Chinese government to fully investigate the case and to take preventive measures.
"The public have a very strong interest in the issue of food safety," Komura said, indicating the incident could hurt Japan-China relations. "I believe the negative impact could be minimized if the two countries cooperate with each other."
Later in the day, the health ministry instructed prefectural governments and major municipalities to file reports immediately if they find food poisoning cases they suspect are caused by imported food, regardless of whether they involve criminality or not.
The ministry said it has ordered 19 companies that imported dumplings and other foodstuffs from Tianyang Food in China's Heibei Province to check that all imported foods excluding dumplings do not contain pesticide.
On Friday, JT Foods Co, an affiliate of Japan Tobacco Inc that imported the products, said it received nearly 3,000 inquiries and complaints about the food poisoning case from consumers and others in the morning.
JT Foods said it plans to recall a total of 48,000 cases of products.
In fact, some workers want to retaliate against their boss,they can do something before goods exported.For example,a worker put a sharp knife in the box,three years ago when I worked in a Japanese company.More, a girl put a hard plastic in the food when she made it...
Both things were claimed after they exported.
But,pesticide,I dont think they put it in.
What they wanted to do?
Kill some one or just retaliate against boss?
Thanks for your awoking...
I set my profile page just now..
I want to know people in world how to see this accident happend in Japan,and what is the MADE IN CHINA food in their eyes.
A little sad about what I looked in here
What the meaning?
IBTZ
In before the Zot(before a post or thread gets deleted).
As the report,some small hole were found in PE package. I am not sure it had done in China or Japan.I don't know if the reason was nationalism, revenge against a boss or what. But I'm willing to bet it wasn't a Japanese person who did it. Japanese crimes are usually ways of making money(changing the expiration date, mixing pork with hamburger and calling it beef etc...). This doesn't benefit Japanese companies at all.
In fact, some workers want to retaliate against their boss,they can do something before goods exported.For example,a worker put a sharp knife in the box,three years ago when I worked in a Japanese company.More, a girl put a hard plastic in the food when she made it... Both things were claimed after they exported.
But,pesticide,I dont think they put it in. What they wanted to do? Kill some one or just retaliate against boss?
>>On Wednesday evening, JT sent an official of its quality control department to Tianyang Food’s plant, but the official failed to obtain samples because he arrived after Chinese authorities inspected the site<<
Hmmm...
Please read the following news:
Supermarket sold 39 packages of dumplings on day abnormalities were detected
The manager of the supermarket in Hirakata answers questions from reporters on Monday morning.
The manager of the supermarket in Hirakata answers questions from reporters on Monday morning.
HIRAKATA, Osaka — A supermarket here sold 39 packages of “gyoza” dumplings on Dec. 27, the day the store noticed abnormalities with similar packages, its manager admitted Monday.
The insecticide methamidophos was detected on Sunday on the surface of six of the 11 packages of meat and vegetable dumplings that the supermarket in Hirakata had returned on Dec. 28 to JT Foods Co., which imported the products from China.
The dumplings, named “Chuka de Gochiso — Hitokuchi Gyoza,” are the same type of products that poisoned three family members in Takasago, Hyogo Prefecture.
A representative of the Osaka Prefectural Government warned consumers who bought the dumplings. “Please don’t eat gyoza if they are the ones suspected in this case,” he said.
The supermarket noticed that a foreign substance was stuck on the surface of several packages of gyoza dumplings on Dec. 27 and returned 11 of the products to JT Foods the next day. However, the store sold 39 other packages of the same products on Dec. 27.
Shall we continue our bet?
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