It was learned Aug. 6 that an incident of "gyoza" dumpling poisoning occurred in China in mid-June, involving the same Chinese food maker whose gyoza caused cases of food poisoning in Japan last December and January. Although China informed Japan of the June incident on the night of July 7, the first day of the three-day Group of Eight summit, Japan's government did not publicly announce it at that time.
Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura said China had requested that Japan not make an announcement. Such behavior damages the credibility of the Fukuda administration, which has promised to improve food safety through the creation of a Consumer Agency. The information had been disclosed to Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda, officials close to him and high-ranking officials of the Foreign Ministry. It is outrageous that the government kept this information that concerns people's health and life to itself for about a month.
In December and January, 10 people from three families in Chiba and Hyogo prefectures suffered food poisoning caused by methamidophos, an insecticide banned in Japan, which was detected in gyoza made by Tianyang Food in Hebei Province. The food poisoning incident in China was also caused by the same insecticide found in gyoza made by the same company.