http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,23134341-23109,00.html?GeeChinese dumplings contain insecticideFrom correspondents in Tokyo
January 30, 2008 09:09pm
TEN people have fallen ill in Japan with a girl in a serious condition after eating dumplings from China that contained insecticide, police said today, warning they could press criminal charges.
The scare was breaking news shortly before dinner time in Japan, with national television broadcasting a live press conference in which distributor JT Foods said it was recalling the dumplings.
"We pray for the early recovery of those whose health was affected,'' Mutsuo Iwai, an executive at cigarette giant Japan Tobacco, of which JT Foods is a subsidiary, said.
"We sincerely apologise for the trouble.''
Ten people, including a mother and her four children, fell ill in Chiba prefecture near Tokyo and western Hyogo prefecture after eating "gyoza'' dumplings, local police said.
At least five of them were still in hospital after suffering vomiting, stomach aches or diarrhoea. A five-year-old girl was reported to be in a serious condition.
Chinese-made products, ranging from seafood to car tyres and toys, were at the centre of a series of global safety scandals and recalls last year.
Japan is heavily reliant on food imports and counts China as its second largest supplier after the United States.
But a number of Japanese companies have also come under fire in recent months over food safety, mostly false labelling of expired products, in cases that had no link to China.
The gyoza, which historically originated in China but is one of Japan's most popular foods, is a steamed dumpling, generally with ground meat inside.
JT Foods said an insecticide called methamidophos was found in the dumplings.