A major Japanese food manufacturer has found traces of an industrial chemical in some of its products that were made in China, as a food safety scare centered on tainted milk continued to spread, health officials said Friday.
The news came as Japan added food products from 12 Asian countries and territories with a record of importing milk products from China to a watch list for special inspections.
Japan’s Marudai Food Co pulled its cream buns, meat buns and creamed corn crepes from supermarkets a week ago as the tainted milk scandal in China began to unfold. Its tests have since found traces of the industrial chemical melamine in several of the recalled products, Health and Welfare Ministry official Mina Kojima said.
Marudai has sold more than 300,000 of the products, most of which are believed to have been consumed, but so far there have been no reports of health problems, she said.
Company executive Masaaki Sugiyama told a news conference that two kinds of cream buns and the crepes had traces of melamine, but the amount was so small that it posed no health threat. He apologized for the company’s failure to prevent the contamination.
The public health department in Takatsuki, a western city where Marudai is headquartered, said its lab tests found one of the cream buns, “Cream Panda,” contained melamine 74 times higher than the tolerable daily intake level set by the European Food Safety Agency.
But public health official Mami Matsumoto said an average adult would need to eat 33 crepes or 17 panda buns every day to risk being sickened.
“Nobody eats so many of them. We believe the risk is negligible,” Matsumoto said.
The ministry said earlier Friday that it had suspended imports of milk and milk products from China, and had singled out products from 12 other countries and territories for close inspection. The move was meant to prevent tainted products from entering the country, ministry official Yoshiya Nishimura said.
Powdered milk contaminated with melamine has been blamed in the illnesses of some 54,000 children and the deaths of four infants in China.
The countries and territories targeted for close scrutiny—South Korea, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, India, the Philippines, Singapore, Vietnam, Singapore, Myanmar, Taiwan and Hong Kong—have imported milk and milk products from China, though they have now suspended the imports or taken other safety measures, Nishimura said.
The ministry will pay special attention to imported milk, butter and cheese, as well as processed foods using dairy ingredients such as cookies, candies, dairy products and other foods, Nishimura said.
So far, no problems have been found in products imported from the countries on the watch list, he said.
Tokyo-based Lotte Group, a major snack maker, was also caught up in the storm Friday after its popular chocolate-filled Koala cookies made in China were recalled in Hong Kong and Macau because of melamine contamination.
Packages of the cookies list whole milk powder as an ingredient.
In Tokyo, a company spokeswoman said Lotte products sold in Japan were not made with Chinese dairy ingredients.
The news came as Japan added food products from 12 Asian countries and territories with a record of importing milk products from China to a watch list for special inspections.
Japan’s Marudai Food Co pulled its cream buns, meat buns and creamed corn crepes from supermarkets a week ago as the tainted milk scandal in China began to unfold. Its tests have since found traces of the industrial chemical melamine in several of the recalled products, Health and Welfare Ministry official Mina Kojima said.
Marudai has sold more than 300,000 of the products, most of which are believed to have been consumed, but so far there have been no reports of health problems, she said.
Company executive Masaaki Sugiyama told a news conference that two kinds of cream buns and the crepes had traces of melamine, but the amount was so small that it posed no health threat. He apologized for the company’s failure to prevent the contamination.
The public health department in Takatsuki, a western city where Marudai is headquartered, said its lab tests found one of the cream buns, “Cream Panda,” contained melamine 74 times higher than the tolerable daily intake level set by the European Food Safety Agency.
But public health official Mami Matsumoto said an average adult would need to eat 33 crepes or 17 panda buns every day to risk being sickened.
“Nobody eats so many of them. We believe the risk is negligible,” Matsumoto said.
The ministry said earlier Friday that it had suspended imports of milk and milk products from China, and had singled out products from 12 other countries and territories for close inspection. The move was meant to prevent tainted products from entering the country, ministry official Yoshiya Nishimura said.
Powdered milk contaminated with melamine has been blamed in the illnesses of some 54,000 children and the deaths of four infants in China.
The countries and territories targeted for close scrutiny—South Korea, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, India, the Philippines, Singapore, Vietnam, Singapore, Myanmar, Taiwan and Hong Kong—have imported milk and milk products from China, though they have now suspended the imports or taken other safety measures, Nishimura said.
The ministry will pay special attention to imported milk, butter and cheese, as well as processed foods using dairy ingredients such as cookies, candies, dairy products and other foods, Nishimura said.
So far, no problems have been found in products imported from the countries on the watch list, he said.
Tokyo-based Lotte Group, a major snack maker, was also caught up in the storm Friday after its popular chocolate-filled Koala cookies made in China were recalled in Hong Kong and Macau because of melamine contamination.
Packages of the cookies list whole milk powder as an ingredient.
In Tokyo, a company spokeswoman said Lotte products sold in Japan were not made with Chinese dairy ingredients.
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