Japanese team turns up no problems at dumpling plant

SHIJIAZHUANG, China (Kyodo) The head of a Japanese government team on a fact-finding mission in China over the "gyoza" food-poisoning case said early Wednesday the group found no problems at a factory that produced the frozen meat and vegetable dumplings linked to the incident.

Taiji Harashima, head of the Cabinet Office's Consumer Policy Division, said after touring the Tianyang Food factory in Shijiazhuang, Hebei Province, that his team has concluded its investigations there and will return to Beijing later Wednesday.

"The factory was clean and well-kept, and we did not find any problems during our tour," Harashima said.

Investigators in Japan found high levels of the pesticide methamidophos in gyoza made by Tianyang Food.

Japanese police are looking into the possibility the chemical was deliberately injected into the packages.

In Japan, the pesticide is not registered as an agricultural chemical allowed for use. China banned its use at the beginning of this year.

Another type of pesticide, meanwhile, has been detected in dumplings made for sale in Japan by the same company, a Japanese distributor of the dumplings said Tuesday. But there have been no reports of health problems due to the pesticide, called dichlorvos, according to the distributor.