Tainted 'gyoza' knocked stuffing out of Chinese food sales to Japan

BEIJING (Kyodo) China's food sales to Japan fell sharply in the first two months of the year following the food-poisoning case involving frozen dumplings that sickened 10 people in Japan, China's state-run media reported Friday.

In January and February, China exported 471,000 tons of foodstuffs worth $1.02 billion to Japan, down 17.1 percent in tonnage and 10.4 percent in value compared with the same period the previous year, Xinhua News Agency reported.

In February alone, such exports fell 30 percent to 186,000 tons, the report said, citing General Administration of Customs figures.

Between January and February, China exported 144,000 tons of vegetables to Japan, down 17.7 percent from a year earlier, and 45,000 tons of seafood products, down 12.5 percent, it said.

Ten people from three families in Japan fell ill between December 2007 and January this year after eating pesticide-tainted "gyoza" (dumplings) made in China.

Methamidophos was later detected in the dumplings, but Chinese authorities have denied the organophosphate pesticide residue came from the factory that produced the dumplings, and have instead concluded it was an individual case of deliberate poisoning.

On Monday, Japanese authorities announced that methamidophos had again been detected inside a sealed package of frozen dumplings made in China. It is the second time the pesticide has been detected in a product without any holes or damage to its packaging. This is reinforcing the theory that the pesticide entered the products in China and before they were sealed.

The previous case was in February.

Methamidophos was detected on the surface of 39 sealed packages that were part of about 450 recalled Chinese-made food products that were stored at a company in Osaka. It was also detected inside one of the packages.