Calbee Foods Co. has resumed operations at a confectionery factory where work had been suspended since Saturday following the discovery of a dead lizard in a bag of potato chips produced there, the confectionery maker said.
The company resumed operations Wednesday after carrying out all instructions given by the Health and Welfare Ministry, such as plugging an opening in the structure that connects the factory and an adjacent distribution center, it said.
The company had halted operations at the factory run by one of its affiliates after a woman in Chofu discovered the 15-cm lizard in a bag of Aji Potato Garlic Butter chips on Aug. 9.
The factory is located in the city of Higashi-Matsuyama, Saitama Prefecture.
The woman reported the discovery to both Calbee Foods and the local public health office of the Health and Welfare Ministry.
Calbee Foods has recalled some 62,000 bags of the same type of product.
The bag in which the lizard was found was among those produced on July 11 and shipped to wholesalers.
The company has remained unable to work out how the lizard entered the factory and then got into a chip bag, Calbee said.