Police team will visit Japan to work on tainted dumplings case
Beijing will soon send a team of police officers to Japan at the country's invitation to investigate the food scare involving mainland-made dumplings, the product safety chief said yesterday.
Li Changjiang, head of the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, also confirmed that 39 bags of dumplings made on the mainland had recently been found to be contaminated with the pesticide methamidophos, in Japan's Hyogo prefecture, near Osaka.
Japanese police have claimed that traces of the pesticide were found in frozen dumplings, made in a Hebei factory, that had left at least 10 people ill since late last year.
'Chinese police are looking into this incident. This includes carrying out tests on the pesticide's penetration ability, assessment of the food processing company's background and checks on the company's personnel,' Mr Li said on the sidelines of the National People's Congress.
'I personally believe that this new discovery will have a positive impact on the in-depth investigation of the dumpling poisoning case.'
It was not known if the Hyogo discovery, announced by Japanese police on March 7, was related to earlier incidents. But Japanese media had reported that all the dumplings were made by the same factory, Tianyang Food, in Shijiazhuang, Hebei.
The food scare has sparked a nationwide recall of mainland-made food products in Japan and piled the pressure on Beijing to restore international confidence in the quality and safety of its exports.
Both sides said the dumplings were sabotaged, but both insisted it did not happen on their watch.
There is speculation that the scandal has further strained ties between the Asian neighbours and delayed President Hu Jintao's much anticipated visit to Japan. But mainland officials deny the poisonous dumplings have had any impact on the visit.
'Since both sides believe the dumpling incident was an individual case, I am sure this will not have any impact on Mr Hu's visit,' Mr Li said.
He denied media reports that mainland authorities had stopped investigating the dumpling incident.
Mr Li added that Beijing had accepted an invitation by the Japanese ambassador to send police officers to probe the incident.
Yuji Miyamoto extended the invitation when he met the Ministry of Public Security's criminal investigation department head, Du Hangwei, on Tuesday, according to Mr Li.
'China's police have also extended a similar invitation to their counterparts in Japan to exchange their views on experiments and food-safety testing methodologies,' Mr Li said.
'With their joint efforts, it won't be long before we can reveal the truth of the dumpling incident.'
Mr Li said the forthcoming Food Safety Law would increase penalties on enterprises for producing substandard food.
He also renewed a pledge to ensure food safety during the Olympic Games in August by imposing stricter standards on suppliers and monitoring transport and storage.
