Annus Scandalous

December 11, 2008

Annus Scandalous

A year’s worth of food safety scandals has upset Japan’s applecart

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The gristly list

“Fakes”
2007 – The president of Meat Hope receives a four-year prison term for selling ground beef mixed with pork, chicken and other meats as pure beef. Another meat processor, Hinaidori, sells meat from culled chickens past their roosting best as premium-brand Hinai-jidori chicken. Other scandals included two renowned confectioners falsifying production and expiration dates.
Gyoza-gate
January 2008 – Ten people reportedly develop food poisoning after eating Chinese-made frozen gyoza tainted with an organic pesticide. A 5-year-old girl briefly falls unconscious. Hundreds more complain of feeling sick after eating frozen gyoza—possibly a reaction to the blanket media coverage, or perhaps just too much beer with the dumplings.
Eel laundering
June 2008 – Eel trader Uohide boosts profits by labeling grilled eels of Chinese origin as being from Isshiki, a town known as the nation’s biggest and best producer of the slippery delicacy. Uohide also reportedly attempts “eel laundering” by buying back fish to cover up the mislabeling.
Sour milk
September 2008 – Melamine in milk products kills four children in China, and more than 50,000 others, mostly infants, suffer from kidney stones or other ailments. Several Japanese firms recall products, including steamed meat buns, sweet snacks, egg tarts and chocolates. Restaurant chain Saizeriya recalls 5.7 tons of pizza dough.
Cereal wrongdoings
September 2008 – Farm minister Seiichi Ota steps down after saying he was “not overly fazed” by a scandal in which rice only deemed good enough for industrial use was sold for human consumption. Meanwhile, Mikasa Foods cashes in by selling on nonglutinous rice tainted with mold and pesticide mixed with imported rice to shochu makers and confectioners.
Hamming it up
October 2008 – Itoham Foods recalls about 3 million pizzas and sausages after excess toxic compounds were detected in underground water sources used to produce the products. The company admitted later it knew of the toxins’ existence.
Spill the beans
October 2008 – A Tokyo housewife is hospitalized after spitting out green beans she said “smelled of gasoline.” The beans, imported from China, were found to contain dangerous levels of pesticide.
Pot, meet kettle
November 2008 – Chinese food inspectors say they have found excess arsenic levels in Japanese soy sauce and copper in coffee imported from Japan.
Green business
November 2008 – Nichiro Foods admits it had been selling Chinese frozen vegetables as domestic produce since around 2001.