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Japanese firm recalls PRC dumplings after 10 fall ill

Ten people have fallen ill in Japan with a girl in a serious condition after eating dumplings from China that contained insecticide, police said yesterday, 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," said Mutsuo Iwai, an executive at cigarette giant Japan Tobacco, of which JT Foods is a subsidiary. "We sincerely apologize for the trouble."

The health ministry said Japan had requested via diplomatic channels that China, its largest trading partner, help with the investigation.

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 officials said.

At least five of them were still in hospital after suffering vomiting, stomach aches or diarrhoea, the officials said. A five-year-old girl was reported to be in a serious condition, temporarily losing consciousness.

"We are looking to see whether this constitutes a criminal case," a police official in Chiba prefecture told reporters.

An employee at the plant in Hebei Province denied wrongdoing, saying contamination of dumplings would be "impossible."

"There is no problem with our company," the employee of Tianyang Food Processing, whose name was not given, said in an interview broadcast by Japan's TV Asahi. "Our company has strict safety standards."

Iwai said Japan Tobacco first found out about the problem on Dec.r 28 when two people were hospitalized in Chiba prefecture.

He rejected suggestions the company acted late, saying it did not reveal the case for a month because "we could not find a causal link" between the dumplings and the illnesses.

JT Foods said an insecticide called methamidophos was found in the dumplings.

It said it was recalling 23 products made at the Tianyang Food factory for JT Foods.
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