No abnormity detected in food company involved in food poisoning case

SHIJIAZHUANG, Feb. 6 (Xinhua) -- A joint investigation team of China and Japan to the Tianyang Food company has not detected abnormity after a half-day inspection tour in the plant, both Japanese and Chinese investigators said here early Wednesday morning.

"The plant is very clean and well managed, and no abnormity has been detected," a Japanese investigator told the press. Japan will conduct further analysis based on information and data collected in the plant, he said.

Wang Daning, director of the department of food import and export safety under the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ), said that China and Japan have been cooperating well with each other, and the Chinese side has been letting Japanese investigators see related materials and equipments as many as possible.

So far, Japanese police have confirmed that at least 10 people fell sick after eating dumplings laced with the highly toxic organophosphate pesticide called methamidophos made by Tianyang Food.

Both governments of China and Japan have been struggling to find what actually had happened.

Chinese and Japanese officials began a close-door talk Tuesday morning in Beijing on the frozen dumpling poisoning case.

The four-member Japanese team were from Japan's Foreign Ministry, the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry and the Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Ministry.

Before the talk, Harashima Taiji, head of the Japanese official team, expressed his appreciation for the timely response on the case by the Chinese government and said the Japanese government paid great attention to the case.

The AQSIQ's Wang said he was grateful that the Japanese government sent a mission to China in time. Paying great attention to the case, the Chinese government formed an investigation team with the immediate effect, he said.

"We hope we can clarify facts related to the case as soon as possible and give the public a fair and reasonable explanation," he added.

According to earlier Japanese media reports, nearly 300 people have sought medical treatment, with one girl in serious condition, since a Japanese company last week said that frozen meat dumplings produced at the Tianyang Food Plant in Hebei Province contained insecticide.

Japanese authorities found an insecticide called methamidophos in the vomit of the poisoned people and food packages at their houses.

But tests showed that the rest of the dumplings from the same batches sold in Japan, totaling more than 2,000 packages, were safe. So were all the other products made by the Chinese company, said Wang earlier.