Speech by Wei Chuanzhong, Vice Minister of the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine February 28, 2008 |
Dear friends from the media, Good morning. The Chinese government attaches great importance to the dumpling poisoning incident in Japan . On the one hand, we are deeply concerned about the health of Japanese consumers. We sincerely hope that the victims could recover as early as possible. On the other hand, we promptly launched the comprehensive investigation. Now, I would like to give you a brief introduction on the investigation conducted by AQSIQ. On January 30, AQSIQ received the notification from Japanese side via Chinese Embassy in Japan . We pay high attention to it and have swiftly taken a series of measures. Firstly, we contacted Japanese Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare and other relevant departments to learn more about the specific situation. Secondly, we rapidly set up an investigation team who took samples and tested from the remaining samples of the batch of products which caused the incident in Japan , from the neighboring batch of products, and also from the products in storage. The result of our test shows that no methamidophos has been detected. Thirdly, we have requested Tianyang Food to stop production and sale. We have recalled its products in Japan and on the way to Japan . Fourthly, we strictly inspected every step of production in Tianyang Food, including the entry of raw materials, production and processing, package, storage, transportation and export. We checked the video monitoring record and the related production record of the plant. Fifthly, on Feb. 3, the working group composed of officials from AQSIQ and MOFCOM visited Japan to notify the development of our investigation and to actively cooperate with the Japanese side for investigation. The working group took back 10 bags of dumpling with different production date from Japan for test and study. All the testing results show that no methamidophos or dichlorvos has been detected. Sixthly, the enterprise was registered by Japanese Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries in 1995 and it passed the on-the-site re-inspection conducted by Japanese Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries twice respectively in March 2001 and June 2005. For more than 10 years, its products exported to Japan have maintained stable quality. Seventhly, on February 4, AQSIQ and the People's Government of Hebei Province jointly received the inspection team of the Japanese government and arranged their inspection trip to Tianyang Food. We provided the Japanese inspection team with all the necessary materials needed and arranged their examination to all necessary sites and facilities. Eighthly, on February 12, I went to Hebei once again with relevant officials for further investigation on every steps of Tianyang Food Processing, and we got the same view with the Japanese governmental inspection team that management of this plant is very standard, all materials are adequate and no doubtful points are found in any step of product processing. Our investigation shows that first, no methamidophos was detected on the products of this plant including those samples brought back from Japan ; and second, this plant is of very good management and no doubtful points were found in any step of production and processing. Therefore, we conclude that the dumpling poisoning incident in Japan is an individual contrived case instead of a food safety case resulted from pesticide residue. I'd like to once again stress that food safety is a common problem faced by different countries of the world. I hope that China and Japan will set up a long-term cooperative mechanism of food safety so as to strengthen bilateral food safety cooperation and promote the healthy development of the two economies.
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