Pesticide found on six 'gyoza' packs in Hyogo

KOBE (Kyodo) Pesticide was detected on the surface of six Chinese-produced frozen "gyoza" dumpling packages that were made the same day as the dumplings that sickened a family in Takasago, Hyogo Prefecture, police said Sunday.

Two tiny holes were found in one of the six packages, they said, leading to the possibility of deliberate tampering. There was a 1-mm hole in the front and a 1-mm hole in the back.

The dumplings were produced by Tianyang Food in Hebei Province, China, on Oct. 1. The Hyogo Prefectural Police said organophosphate pesticide, called methamidophos, was detected on the six packages, which had been provided by the importer, Tokyo-based Sojitz Foods Corp.

Sojitz received the six packages last month from the Osaka branch of JT Foods Co., which distributes the dumplings. A retailer in Osaka returned the six packages to JT Foods in late December, saying their surfaces were "sticky and had a foul smell." All were unopened.

Mutsuo Iwai, a board member of JT Foods, told a news conference in Tokyo on Sunday evening that the company could not detect the pesticide on the packages after they were returned to the firm.

"We thought the substance on the packages was some kind of oil," he said.

The police said they are investigating whether there is any pesticide in the dumplings themselves in the six packages.

The findings came a day after the Hyogo police said they detected no pesticide in dumplings or trays in eight packages taken from four stores in that prefecture.

Meanwhile, the Chiba Prefectural Police said Saturday they did not detect any pesticide in two packages of dumpling products made Oct. 20, the same day as the products that were eaten by two families who fell ill in Chiba Prefecture.

Along with the two packages, the Japanese Consumers' Cooperative Union, which distributed the dumplings, also provided the Chiba police with 88 more dumpling packages produced by Tianyang Food the same day.

The Chiba and Hyogo prefectural police said they will analyze recalled dumplings in collaboration with police in Tokyo and Osaka due to the large number of products involved.

Aside from 10 people in the three families in Chiba and Hyogo prefectures, 286 people in 35 prefectures have undergone treatment at medical institutions across Japan over the pesticide incident.