A four-member team will soon leave for Japan to help investigate
a food poisoning incident allegedly caused by imported Chinese
frozen dumplings, Chinese authorities said on Friday.
"The team will help the Japanese side to probe the case," the
General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and
Quarantine (AQSIQ) information office told China Daily.
Along with AQSIQ officials, the team will include
representatives of Ministry of Commerce, Hebei province's
Inspection and Quarantine Bureau and the Chinese Academy of
Inspection and Quarantine.
"The team is now waiting for notification from the Japanese
Embassy in Beijing. It's expected to leave very soon," said the
statement.
Japanese media reported on Wednesday that at least 10 people in
three families in Hyogo and Chiba prefectures suffered stomachache,
vomiting or diarrhea after eating frozen dumplings made by Tianyang
Food Processing in northern China's Hebei Province.
The dumplings are alleged to be contaminated with traces of
methamidophos, an organic phosphorus insecticide.
The reports have triggered concerns over Chinese-made food
products in Japan.
The Yomiuri Shimbun, a leading Japanese newspaper, reported the
number of people who claimed to be sick as a result of eating
frozen food products from China had risen to 511 in 33 prefectures
as of Friday afternoon. However, no fresh cases have so far been
confirmed.
But a preliminary investigation report released by AQSIQ on
Thursday showed no harmful chemicals were found in samples of the
frozen dumplings blamed for the incident.
Wang Daning, director of AQSIQ's import and export food safety
bureau, said on Thursday the Japanese side had told the
administration that traces of pesticide were found only in the 10
victims' vomit and packages of the dumplings they had eaten, but
not in others from the same batches.
He did not rule out the possibility of deliberate poisoning, and
said police from both countries had intervened.
As a precaution, the Chinese government has ordered Tianyang
Food Processing to halt production and exports. The company has
been ordered to recall all its products from both the domestic and
foreign markets, according to AQSIQ.
Japanese Chief Cabinet Minister Nobutaka Machimura said on
Friday he thought Beijing was taking the incident seriously.
"China's response has been very speedy. It's stopped production
and started inspections," Machimura told a news conference.
Experts are also calling for careful handling of the issue so as
not to harm ties between the two countries.
"It's irresponsible to make early conclusions and blame China
for it before the final results are released," Gao Hong, a
researcher from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said.
(China Daily February 2, 2008)
