Hebei dumpling firm worker who sickened 10 in Japan pleads guilty
Lu Yueting, 39, a former employee of the Hebei Tianyang Food Factory, apologised for his actions during the trial in the people's intermediate court in Shijiazhuang, Hebei, Xinhua reported.
A Chinese man pleaded guilty yesterday to sickening at least 10 Japanese people five years ago by poisoning dumplings that were later exported to Japan - an incident that sparked a diplomatic row between the countries.
Lu Yueting, 39, a former employee of the Hebei Tianyang Food Factory, apologised for his actions during the trial in the people's intermediate court in Shijiazhuang, Hebei, Xinhua reported.
The case of pesticide-laced dumplings not only dealt a blow to foreigners' confidence in Chinese exports - it came amid a series of food-safety scares - it also stoked tensions between Beijing and Tokyo.
Lu was accused of using a needle to inject the insecticide methamidophos into between six and nine boxes of frozen dumplings between October and December 2007.
Some of the dumplings went to Japan and sickened 10 people, including a five-year-old girl who fell seriously ill. Other tainted dumplings were sold in Chengde , Hebei, and sickened at least four people.
Shi Yinhong , an international relations expert at Renmin University in Beijing, said that the resolution of the case could provide a welcome distraction from the countries' ongoing territorial disputes.
