Feb 1, 2008, 12:56 GMT
Tokyo - Chinese-made dumplings have caused a food-poisoning scare in Japan as health authorities and other organizations reported around 800 people complaining about sickness after eating the 'gyoza,' Kyodo news agency said Friday.
Tests on the dumplings produced in the Chinese province of Hebei had found traces of pesticides, it was said. However, it remained unclear how the dumplings had come to be contaminated.
According to Chinese reports, no traces of the poison had been found in the factory that makes the dumplings.
Police meanwhile have found a hole in a dumpling package from which a family had eaten before falling sick, media reports said. Suspicions are that someone had pierced the packaging with a needle and infected its contents.
The case emerged mid-week when several Japanese people showed symptoms of food poisoning after eating the Chinese dumplings in December and January.
Since then, the food poisoning has caused a great media stir, while the government has ordered an inquiry.
However, anger has been caused by the fact that local authorities in Japan only reported the first cases after a month.
Health Minister Yoichi Masuzoe has criticized the local governments involved.
The dumplings were made by Chinese company Tianyang Food and imported by Japanese company JT Food.
Production in China has been temporarily suspended, while the dumplings and other products made by the same company have been taken off the shelves in Japan.
There have been repeated scares over the safety of Chinese-made food products in recent months.
The Japanese Health Ministry meanwhile has said it planned to revise the Food Sanitation Law to require local authorities to report even small-scale food poisoning cases to the central government.
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