Japan food firms to stop Chinese imports
vegetables from China after findings showed that some Chinese-grown
spinach contained excessive agricultural chemicals, a Japanese
newspaper reported.
Japanese food companies are moving to stop importing a range of vegetables from China after findings showed that some Chinese-grown spinach contained excessive agricultural chemicals, a Japanese newspaper reported.
A unit of Ajinomoto, Japan's largest food ingredients company, this month stopped producing six frozen vegetable products procured from Chinese farms, which will cut sales by several hundred million a year, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun (Nikkei) said.
The paper's Saturday online edition said Japanese food producers have decided to extend the list of discontinued imports from China after concluding that they will be unable to ensure their safety.
Other Japanese companies like Nichiro and S&B Foods are also preparing to stop importing other vegetables from China in addition to spinach, the paper said.
Recalling products has cost the producers dearly, and earlier this week led to Japan's Health Ministry instructing them to refrain from importing Chinese spinach, the paper said.
A string of food scares and mislabelling scandals have plagued Japanese food companies, in addition to the mad cow disease last September that severely battered consumer confidence in Japan.
The latest health scare emerged on Friday when Japan's Health Ministry made the public aware of a Chinese diet pill that killed one Japanese woman in May and caused 11 others to suffer from serious liver problems.
The slimming pills made in Guangdong Province in southern China were found to contain illegal components such as fenfluramine, a regulated poison withdrawn in 1997 after evidence showed it can damage heart valves when consumed with other slimming agents.
