Panic Spreads Over Food Imports From China

A day has passed since news broke of insecticide-laden frozen dumplings from China, and the media frenzy has yet to die down. Mainichi reports that 62 more people are claiming to be victims of the poison gyoza. Although few of the new victims had experienced anything more than diarrhea, one can be sure that the panic over the deadly gyoza will continue to grow.

The story is even being picked up by the international media. Reuters does a pretty good job of covering the story:

The food scare has triggered a nationwide probe into possible additional cases of food poisoning, while Japan’s top government spokesman questioned China’s attitude to food safety only weeks after the country said it had improved standards.

Japanese media and opposition lawmakers have also suggested Japan’s initial response to the problem may have been too slow.

“I have two children, boys aged four and two. They love dumplings. Japanese people love dumplings,” said Democratic Party parliamentarian Yuichiro Hata. “This is something that threatens peoples’ lives.”

Japan Tobacco Inc said on Wednesday its subsidiary, JT Foods Co., would recall the frozen dumplings and other food made at the same Chinese factory, as television broadcasters flashed warnings to viewers not to eat the products.

Around 80 people in Japan have complained of getting sick from eating food made in China, TV Asahi said. Restaurants and schools took Chinese-made food off their menus, other media said.
The scandal is the latest in a string of disputes over the safety of Chinese products from toys to toothpaste. Earlier this month, China declared that its campaign to ensure food and product safety had been a complete success.

“I don’t want to think that there is any difference among countries concerning food safety, but it seems there was a sense on the Chinese side that ‘this is probably ok’,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura told a news conference.

The issue of restaurants [Bamiyan/Gusto/Skylark Group] & schools is explained further in this Japanese language news clip from ANN:

According to the report, at least 8700 Japanese schoolchildren have been served school lunches containing items imported from China by JT Foods, the same company that sold the contaminated gyoza. While flipping through the channels on my television I also noticed that one channel had a special news ticker at the bottom of the screen informing viewers of schools and stores involved in the scandal.

I don’t recall last year’s Japanese/Chinese food scandals getting this level of coverage, but I suppose those scandals didn’t involve levels of poison that put people in critical condition. Insecticide-laden food is a bit scarier than food past its expiration date.

Update: As panic spreads, so does the number of people who believe they became sick from eating contaminated gyoza. The number of victims now exceeds 450, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s even higher tomorrow. [A friend of mine who had an upset stomach after eating at a Skylark group restaurant last week is now convinced that tainted Chinese ingredients are to blame, but she won't be calling up and reporting herself as a victim.]

A few media reports are placing some of the blame for this scandal on the Japanese government. The Japan Times has an article up about Japan’s weak food inspection system, while the Yomiuri has an article revealing that the Tokyo Metropolitan Government received reports of tainted gyoza weeks ago and was very slow to act on the information.

Update: Was poison actually intentionally injected into the gyoza? New evidence suggests that the poisoning of the the gyoza package that led to serious hospitalizations suggests that, and it’s even possible that the poisoning didn’t occur in China:

A small hole was found in the packaging of dumplings that caused three family members in Hyogo Prefecture to fall ill, suggesting that a poisonous substance detected in the product was deliberately inserted, police said.

The discovery has prompted police to consider forming a case on suspicion of attempted murder. They are continuing to investigate how the substance entered the package