Holdings Ltd., a chain of Japanese-style noodle restaurants, is under investigation by Shanghai's commerce authority for "misleading advertising" of its noodle soup, the Xinhua news agency said.
The company's advertising about the calcium content of its products may have misled customers, the official news service said Wednesday, citing the government body.
The company is a franchisee of the Ajisen-brand noodle business of Shigemitsu Industry Co., a Kumamoto-based noodle shop operator.
Ajisen fell 12 percent, the most since Oct. 10, 2008, in Hong Kong trading Tuesday after China National Radio said the noodle chain's Shanghai unit was fined 787,000 yuan ($122,000) in May 2010 for using the food additive sorbitol. Xinhua last week also said Ajisen uses soup concentrate and overstated the nutritional value of its products.
The Shanghai food and drug authority has "so far found no potential risks related to food safety" in Ajisen's soup concentrate, Xinhua also said Wednesday, citing an inspection of Ajisen's production permits and additives.
Calls to Ajisen's Shanghai and Beijing offices outside of regular office hours Wednesday weren't answered.