Japanese
executives resign over deliberate malathion food poisoning
Published in Red24Assist
On the 2 January 2014, Tokyo-based Maruha
Nichiro Holdings Inc. began recalling some 6.4 million packages of frozen food
ranging from croquettes to pizza following customer complaints of a foul odour
emitting from the opened packages and well over 350 cases of severe illness
associated with eating the affected products were reported. The food subject to
the recall was
reportedly made at a factory of subsidiary
Aqlifoods Co. in Gunma Prefecture and the matter subsequently prompted a major
police investigation after malathion (pesticide) at 2.6 million times the
permitted levels was found in the frozen croquettes.
Police in Japan began questioning over 300
employees of the packaged-food maker after prefectural health officials could
find no evidence of contamination during production at the facility and a
deliberate attempt to contaminate the products was suspected since the
pesticide is not used in the regular manufacturing process. Ichiro Gohara, a
spokesman for the company stated that “We test products several times a day for
evidence of spoilage, based on the law, but we had no reason to believe
pesticides would be present, so we didn’t test for that.”
Additional laboratory tests later revealed
that malathion was found in nine frozen food products
distributed in six prefectures and that
residual levels of the chemical were high enough to sicken a child who had
consumed just one-eighth of a croquette.
Malathion, a colourless to amber liquid
with a musky or garlic-like smell and was registered as an agricultural chemical
in 1953 with the US Environmental Protection Agency for use on food, feed and
ornamental crops according to the US National Pesticide Information Centre. It
is a relatively mild poison but while the case count rose to a staggering 2,800
illnesses and the source of the contamination eluded police, Maruha Nichiro recalled
all products shipped from the plant and then suspended all further
operations.
Masako Mori, Japanese state minister for
consumer affairs and food safety summoned senior officials of Maruha Nichiro
Holdings to the Consumer Affairs Agency to request an improved level of
consumer services after it was revealed that Maruha Nichiro had only managed to
recover 1.11 million of the recalled 6.4 million products by mid-January. Mori
further criticized the company for being too slow in handling aspects of the issue,
such as publicising relevant information and responding to the consumers’
inquiries.
On the 22 January police arrested 49 year
old Toshiki Abe, a factory worker at the plant identified as the lead suspect,
who has since denied all charges. Abe was previously suspected of attempting to
poison food four times in October last year and Kyodo News service reported
that malathion was found in his possession at the time of his arrest.
On the 26 January, what appears to be an
intentional act aside, Maruha Nichiro announced executive pay cuts and said
that President Toshio Kushiro and the president of the subsidiary would be
resigning in March to take responsibility for the food poisoning. The
Tokyo-based manufacturer has repeatedly apologized and bought full-page ads in
major newspapers to warn people not to eat any of the possibly tainted food. No
life threatening illnesses stemming from the incident have been reported, but
public trust in the company’s food safety has been severely shaken.
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