August 31, 2000. Copyright 2000. Graphic News. All rights reserved.

JAPANESE SICK OF FOOD SCARES

LONDON, August 31, Graphic News: NOT ONLY have nearly 15,000 Japanese consumers been sickened by contaminated milk, but their appetites have been ruined by dead lizards in potato crisps, worms in pastries and flies in canned juice.
Last month saw 18 cases of food contamination leading to recalls, according to the state-funded Japan Food Hygiene Association. The latest scandal involved some 125,000 packages of milk and dairy products made by Snow Brand Milk Products Co., JapanÕs largest dairy products maker, that were found to contain powdered skimmed milk possibly contaminated with a toxin from staphylococcus aureus bacteria.
Barraged by such daily horror stories, many Japanese are wondering if itÕs safe to eat or drink anything any more. Concerns over food safety have grown so strong they are now being debated on the parliament floor.
ŌMany of the incidents are the result of sloppiness and complacency,Ķ Deputy Health Minister Yutaka Fukushima said at a recent parliamentary meeting. ŌManufacturers should return to the very basics and think again about food safety.Ķ
The food scare began in late June, when some 14,800 people complained of diarrhoea and vomiting after consuming Snow Brand products. An investigation revealed the company routinely recycled milk returned from stores, including some with expired freshness dates, for use in cheese and other products. The company shut down operations at 20 factories nationwide from late June to early August for government inspection. But despite a recent go-ahead, this week it was forced to issue another recall, for powdered skimmed milk.
Since then, the discovery of any foreign object in food or drink has been enough to prompt huge recalls.
These included the recall by Kikkoman Corp. of 25,300 cans of Del Monte-brand tomato sauce and 36,000 jars of pasta sauce after broken glass was found in one. Yakult Honsha Co. had to recall 446,800 cans of fruit juice after one was found to contain a shard of plastic.
JapanÕs top snack food maker, Calbee, was temporarily forced to close one of its plants in August after a dead lizard was found inside a bag of garlic butter-flavoured potato crisps. Company president Masahiko Matsuo apologized and recalled 62,000 bags distributed in Tokyo and several nearby cities.
Yamazaki Baking Co., the nationÕs top baked-goods producer, recalled 700,000 puddings after consumers complained of a sour taste and smell caused by excessive levels of lactic-acid bacteria and yeast. Yamazaki also recalled 17,000 mouldy potato curry sandwiches. And Yamazaki was back in the headlines this week, when a quarter-inch-long bug was found in one of its custard cream buns.
Food makers arenÕt the only problem. The Japanese media has been dominated recently by reports that another big brand name -- Mitsubishi Motors -- hid consumer complaints for years instead of examining whether their vehicles had potential dangers.
Analysts familiar with JapanÕs corporate system see the food contamination cases and the Mitsubishi Motors scandal as the inevitable result of lax concern for consumers.
/ENDS
Sources: Reuters, Associated Press