Japan: Police looking into 'gyoza' food poisoning as attempted murder

TOKYO — The National Police Agency will seek investigative cooperation from Chinese police over the recent food poisoning incidents in Japan as the Chinese-made frozen "gyoza" dumplings that caused the poisoning may have been contaminated with pesticide deliberately in China, an agency official said Tuesday.

At the first joint meeting of investigators from Chiba and Hyogo prefectures, where 10 people from three families were affected, Tsuyoshi Yoneda, head of the NPA Criminal Investigation Bureau, said, "We are not prejudging the situation, but it is a problem that straddles both Japan and China."

Health, Labor and Welfare Minister Yoichi Masuzoe separately said in a press conference, "There have been no cases of similar contamination in the manufacturing process. Circumstantial evidence suggests substantial criminality."

The envisaged cooperation will take place through diplomatic channels as the two countries have yet to ratify the bilateral criminal investigation cooperation treaty signed in December to allow direct exchanges between their investigators.

But as no police officers are included in the Japanese government's fact-finding mission sent Monday to China, the NPA will initially prioritize an investigation into the possibility that the dumplings were tainted after they were imported into Japan because such a possibility must first be ruled out.

The government, meanwhile, will consider stationing a representative in charge of food safety in China as the amount of food imports from the country has swelled, Masuzoe said, speaking to a House of Councillors Budget Committee session.

The joint investigative meeting, organized by the NPA, was aimed at sharing information and investigating more efficiently the cases that occurred in the eastern and western Japan prefectures, the agency officials said.

"It is a serious situation in which the safety of our country's food is threatened. While investigations should be carried out secretly in principle, we hope to uncover the facts at an early date by disclosing information as actively as possible this time," the NPA's Yoneda said.

Japanese police are looking into the possibility the incidents are attempted murder cases because the highly toxic organophosphate pesticide, called methamidophos, detected in the consumed dumplings was concentrated enough to cause serious illness to a girl and cannot be considered as mere pesticide residue, the officials said.

There is a possibility the dumplings were contaminated with the pesticide before they were imported because methamidophos is not used in Japan and those eaten in Chiba and Hyogo prefectures were stored in the same place in China, they said.

Participants in Tuesday's meeting also included chief investigators from the two prefectures, an NPA director for international investigative operations, and researchers from major crime laboratories.

Crime labs of the NPA, the Metropolitan Police Department and Osaka prefectural police were involved because analysis of piles of gyoza dumplings voluntarily submitted by supermarkets that sold the tainted products and their affiliated stores is key to the investigation.

Another article on the same subject:

http://mdn.mainichi.jp/national/news/20080205p2a00m0na044000c.html

Gyoza-gate: Official says contamination of Chinese dumplings probably deliberate

TOKYO (AP) — Pesticide-laced Chinese dumplings that sickened at least 10 people in Japan and triggered a nationwide scare were probably poisoned deliberately, Japan’s health minister said Tuesday.

The frozen dumplings, produced by China’s Tianyang Food Processing Ltd., were contaminated with the pesticide methamidophos and blamed for a string of poisonings in December and January.

Investigators, however, have found traces of the pesticide on the outside of the dumplings, rather than on the filling. The poison was also found in much higher concentrations than would be expected from residue from pesticides sprayed on vegetables.

Health Minister Yoichi Masuzoe said that pointed to deliberate poisoning, rather than accidental contamination.

“Judging from the circumstantial evidence, we’d have to think that it’s highly likely to be a crime,” he said. “That means we must let police investigate, and I hope the case would be resolved through our cooperation with China.”

As Masuzoe spoke, a Japanese government delegation started an investigation in China, where they were meeting with their counterparts. The group plans to visit the dumpling factory where the food was produced.

About 20 top police investigators from the areas where the poisonings took place gathered in Tokyo on Tuesday to discuss the dumpling probe, and police in the two prefectures Chiba and Hyogo — the home of the 10 victims — are now looking into the dumpling contamination as an attempted murder case.

Tsuyoshi Yoneda, head of the Criminal Affairs Bureau at the National Police Agency, said at the meeting that the case is a “serious threat to the food safety in our country.”

“We are facing an extremely serious case,” he said.

The contamination set off a nationwide scare last week and over the weekend. In addition to the 10 confirmed victims, more than 1,200 people have reported becoming ill after eating Tianyang products, though no link with the pesticide in the additional cases has been proven.

Authorities have ordered the recall of millions of bags of dumplings and other foods made by Tianyang, while many stores and restaurants in Japan have stopped offering Chinese products altogether.

Traces of the insecticide were found in the dumplings, on the packaging and in the vomit of the 10 people who were sickened. Investigators in western Japan also found traces on six bags of the dumplings recalled over the weekend.

Punctures were found in a handful of the bags that were recalled or tied to poisonings.

China’s product safety agency conducted tests on the ingredients of Tianyang dumplings from the same batch sent to Japan, but found none of the insecticide cited by Japanese authorities.

Some Japanese officials urged caution against jumping to conclusions about the source of the contamination.

Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura said hasty remarks could easily damage fragile bilateral relations with China, which have improved since 2006 after years of tensions.

“We should stay calm at least on the government level in order to pursue our investigation,” Komura said.

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