No harmful chemicals were found in Chinese dumpling exports
involved in a food poisoning incident in Japan, said China's
quality watchdog on Thursday.
The General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection
and Quarantine said it conducted tests on the samples of the two
batches of frozen dumplings causing poisoning Japan on Thursday
morning and no trace of pesticide remains were found.
Tests on the raw materials being used by the factory such as
ginger and cabbage show they are also safe.
At least 10 people in Japan's Hyogo and Chiba prefectures
reported stomach ache, vomiting or diarrhoea after eating the
dumplings, according to Japanese media.
The Japanese government had examined the vomit of the poisoned
people and the food packages left at their houses, finding enough
methamidophos, a pesticide substance, to poison humans, said Wang
Daning, head of the Bureau of Import and Export Food Safety with
the AQSIQ.
However, tests by Japanese authorities on the rest of the
dumplings of the same batches sold in Japan, totaling more than
2,000 packs, were safe, so were all the other types of products
made by the same Chinese company, said Wang at a press conference
on Thursday.
Wang said AQSIQ has demanded the producer of the dumplings, the
Tian Yang Food Plant in north China's Hebei Province, recall all products in and on
the way to Japan immediately.
Wang said the company's products are all exported to Japan and
not sold in other countries or domestically.
All dumplings and other products made by Tian Yang have already
been withdrawn from the Japanese market, said Wang.
Police from Japan and China will jointly investigate into the
case, and China will send experts to Japan help resolve the
issue.
"The investigators of Japan and China have agreed not to release
any subjective judgment before a final result comes out," said
Wang, answering questions about the possibility of someone putting
in poison deliberately.
The Tian Yang Food Plant has been making frozen and dried food
for more than 30 years. Wang said the company has a sound quality
control system, with samples kept for every batch of exports.
In 2004, the company had to recall a batch of its meat products
from Japan after the discovery of excessive amounts of escherichia
coli, which can cause diarrhoea. But Wang said that could have been
caused by problems in storage or transportation. The web site of
the Tian Yang Company showed that its total assets were more than
80 million yuan, with annual production of more than 30 million
yuan in 2000 (one US dollar equals 7.1853 yuan).
(Xinhua News Agency February 1, 2008)