Ishiya altered expiry dates for decade

SAPPORO (Kyodo) Confectioner Ishiya Trading Co. has been falsifying the expiration dates of its famous Shiroi Koibito cookies by up to two months for the past 10 years, with President Isao Ishimizu fully aware of the practice, the company said Thursday.

A delivery worker brings boxes of Shiroi Koibito into an Ishiya Trading Co. factory Thursday in Sapporo. The cookies were removed from store shelves in the area after the company admitted to falsifying their expiration dates for 10 years. KYODO PHOTO

Ishimizu said the company will recall all products, including the cookies, and suspend business beyond the four-day period initially announced.

All employees at the Sapporo-based company will continue to work but will be educated about hygiene while business is suspended.

The scheme began in 1996, when Ishiya began wrapping Shiroi Koibito (White Beloved Ones) in high-quality packaging papers, Ishimizu and other company officials said.

According to the company's internal regulations, fresh cookies are to be given an expiry date of four months after manufacture.

But 20 percent to 30 percent of the cookies were in fact shipped with expiry dates of five or six months after manufacture, they said.

Naturally, the dates were often falsified during times when they had excessive stock, they added.

Shiroi Koibito are thin cookies with white chocolate sandwiched between them. They are well known as souvenirs from Hokkaido.

"I apologize for betraying consumers," Ishimizu said, adding that their disgust over the company's products is unavoidable.

"We would like to regain our founding spirit and work hard," he added.