Posts Tagged ‘dumplings’

The Poisoned Dumpling Blame Game

The investigation into pesticide-tainted frozen Chinese-made gyoza has yet to find a definite culprit, but the Chinese government seems sure that the poisoning took place in Japan:

The Chinese authorities, speaking on Thursday after a four-week investigation of the plant where the dumplings were made, gave their strongest statement yet that the manufacturer or Chinese individuals were not responsible for the poisoning.

Yu Xinmin, a senior official with the Ministry of Public Security, said that “after careful investigation and tests, we believe there is little chance that methamidophos [the pesticide] was put into dumplings in China”. However, he would not say if he thought the poison was added in Japan.

At the same news conference, Wei Chuanzhong, a senior official with China’s quality and safety regulator, said sabotage was the most likely cause: “We conclude that the dumpling poisoning incident is an individual contrived case instead of a case of food safety resulting from pesticide residue.” The factory, its suppliers and transport companies had all been investigated.

Japanese police have said it is unlikely the dumplings were poisoned in Japan as the pesticide is banned in the country and traces of it have been found in some intact packages.

The Yomiuri article about this includes mention of Chinese claims that experiments were conducted that prove the pesticide can seep into packages under “certain conditions such as appropriate temperature.” Japanese police have demanded the evidence to back up their claims.

Some Chinese-made Dumplings Contain Insecticide: Panic Begins

After eating some gyoza for lunch today, I returned to my apartment to find that today’s top news story was about insecticide-tainted Chinese gyoza [not the brand of gyoza I ate today, thankfully]:

Five family members in Ichikawa, Chiba, were taken to hospital suffering from vomiting and diarrhea after they ate the dumplings, while another two women from Chiba and three family members from Takasago, Hyogo Prefecture, also reportedly ate the dumplings.

One of the family members from Ichikawa, a 5-year-old girl, was left unconscious in serious condition, while the other family members fell seriously ill after eating the dumplings, which were sold frozen through a consumer cooperative.

A survey by the Ichikawa public health center detected the insecticide methamidophos in the dumplings in levels that far exceeded normal standards. Police are investigating the incident, and are considering forming a case on suspicion of attempted murder.

Today is probably not a good day to be a company that sells Chinese-made frozen foods in Japan, as this incident will probably add to the growing perception in Japan that Chinese food imports are not safe.

Update: The Chinese are investigating these reports, and the story continues to dominate news coverage today.