'Peko-chan," the popular life-size mascot for major confectioner Fujiya Co., was born in 1950. But the eternally 6-year-old girl mascot, which has charmed people for decades and was registered as a three-dimensional trademark in 1998, has been withdrawn from many cake shops because of a scandal at her company. The scandal, which hit the company's cake production component, was caused by slipshod quality control. It is expected to have a severe impact on the company, since fans of Fujiya cakes must feel that they have been betrayed.

Media reports on Jan. 10 shook not only the company, whose origin goes back to a confectioner opened in Yokohama in 1910, but also consumers. The reports said the company's Saitama plant had made cream puffs with milk that had passed its expiration date and shipped them to Tokyo and nine other prefectures in November.

Some 60 liters of milk carrying a Nov. 7 expiration date were used in making the cream puffs Nov. 8. That act alone may not constitute a violation of the Food Sanitation Law unless it has caused health problems such as food poisoning. But a food company must provide a wide margin of safety in its daily operations, since consumer confidence is based on the belief that it is taking utmost care to ensure the safety of its products.