A Nagoya-based pharmaceutical company said Saturday that it has begun recalling vacuum-packed rice porridge used in hospitals after a 6 mm long dead spider was found in one of the packs.
Sanwa Kagaku Kenkyusho Co., based in Nagoya's Higashi Ward, said it is recalling some 1,800 packs of New Sanken Clean Shirogayu made on May 25, the same day as the pack in which the spider was found. The rice porridge is produced under contract by food company Domoto Shokuhin Co.
The product is used at hospitals to feed patients a day before they undergo an examination of the large intestine, as the food can be rapidly digested, the company said.
A dead spider about 6 mm long was discovered mixed in the product at a hospital in Kyushu on Aug. 10 when a nurse was pouring the contents of the pack into a bowl, the company said.
"We will investigate how the spider got mixed in the product and will make utmost efforts to prevent a reoccurrence," an official of Sanwa Kagaku Kenkyusho said.