Japan Tobacco Inc. said Thursday it may lose billions of yen in earnings due to the food-poisoning scare linked to pesticide found in made-in-China frozen "gyoza" dumplings imported by one of its subsidiaries.
JT group sales could suffer up to ¥8 billion and operating profit could fall by up to ¥3 billion in the business year to March 31 if its frozen food business fails to generate any sales in February and March due to the gyoza scare, JT Executive Deputy President Munetaka Takeda said.
The subsidiary, JT Foods Co., was forced last week to recall frozen food it imported from Tianyang Food in Hebei Province after at least 10 people were sickened by dumplings laced with pesticide.