Desserts recalled in new scare over food poisoning

Japan's food poisoning scare widened further yesterday when the country's top bakery said it had recalled some dessert products because consumers complained they tasted sour. Yamazaki Baking said it had voluntarily removed five of its dessert products from store shelves over the weekend in response to complaints.

Japan's food poisoning scare widened further yesterday when the country's top bakery said it had recalled some dessert products because consumers complained they tasted sour. Yamazaki Baking said it had voluntarily removed five of its dessert products from store shelves over the weekend in response to complaints.

A Yamazaki spokesman said the products had not been properly packaged. By late on Sunday it had recalled more than 10 per cent of the 706,000 products in the affected batch. No one who had eaten the desserts had sought hospital treatment, the spokesman said, and public health officials were inspecting the factory where the desserts were made.

On Saturday, the firm recalled nearly 10,000 curry-flavoured buns after complaints the bread appeared to be mouldy. At least two people had complained of stomach pains in that case.

Yamazaki's problems were the latest in a series of such incidents since a food poisoning outbreak involving tainted low-fat milk from a Snow Brand Milk Products plant in Osaka, western Japan, left 14,555 people ill this month. Victims complained of diarrhoea and vomiting after drinking low-fat milk. The company has halted operations temporarily at its 21 milk production plants.

A survey by local government officials showed more than 10 per cent of all 774 milk plants in Japan have hygiene and other problems.

Several other food and beverage producers have recalled products since the Snow Brand alert was sounded. Shikishima Baking Company said it was recalling bread products and stopping production after customers complained of mould.

Morinaga Milk Industry, Japan's third-largest dairy products supplier, temporarily closed a production line last week when 20 children fell ill after drinking its milk. Kirin Beverage Corporation, a subsidiary of Kirin Brewery, has recalled 70,000 cases of its popular Kirin Speed sports soft drink after complaints it tasted odd.

The Health Ministry said it was poised to launch sweeping checks this week of all Snow Brand plants amid charges of lax management and supervision. The Agriculture Minister, Yoichi Tani, and Snow Brand officials will face questions from a parliamentary committee tomorrow on the causes of the incident. (Reuters)