OSAKA -- Officials of Snow Brand Milk Products Co. on Tuesday said that a valve at an Osaka production facility found to be contaminated with a toxin-causing bacteria was used almost every day, and not rarely as it had claimed Saturday.
The company, whose low-fat milk has caused widespread food poisoning in the Kansai region over the past week, admitted to falsifying information about the scale of the valve's contamination at the company's Miyakojima plant.
The false information, which the company said came from an employee in charge of cleaning the valve who it said had lied to the company about maintenance work, was contained in a report submitted to the Osaka Municipal Government.