Japanese local Govt admits domestic contamination of foods

TOKYO—A Japanese local government admitted on Thursday that pesticide detected recently on the surface of some Chinese-made dumplings packages are dichlorvos used in the store.
At a press conference, Tokushima Prefecture Governor Kamon Iizumi said dichlorvos was also detected on frozen food made in Japan and show cases at the store, but the amount was too small to injure people, Kyodo News reported. The governor denied any relationship between the incident and the recent mysterious poisoning involving Chinese-made dumplings sold in Japan.
Analysts said the case in Tokushima indicated the possibility that food products may be contaminated during distribution and retail procedures in Japan. The Japanese health ministry issued a notice in 2004, forbidding the placement of pesticide in room for foods.
Meanwhile, China and Japan have sufficient wisdom to properly resolve the dumpling poisoning case in Japan, said Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesman Liu Jianchao on Thursday. “I believe the incident will not have impact on the upcoming high-level visit between the two countries,” Liu told a routine news conference here.
Liu said the incident was an “isolated case” rather than a systematic food safety problem, judging from investigation results. He said China has taken a highly-responsible attitude toward the issue and carried out investigations immediately after learning the dumpling poisoning case in Japan.
He called on both sides to form a joint team to make further investigations into the case. “Finding out the truth is vital to rebuilding Japanese consumers’ confidence in Chinese products and to normal economic and trade cooperation between the two countries,” Liu said. Japanese media reports said 10 Japanese people fell ill in December and January after consuming frozen meat dumplings produced by Tianyang Food Plant based in north China’s Hebei Province.—Xinhua