Source: CCTV.com

02-14-2008 11:13

Reports that dissatisfied Chinese workers deliberately contaminated dumplings, sickening 10 Japanese, are "mere subjective guesswork." That was according to China's quality watchdog here on Wednesday.

Reports that dissatisfied Chinese workers deliberately  contaminated dumplings, sickening 10 Japanese, are "mere  subjective guesswork." That was according to China's  quality watchdog here on Wednesday.

The deputy chief of China's quality watchdog, Wei Chuanzhong, told a news conference in Beijing on Wednesday that "local police found nothing unusual in the producing process." On Tuesday, Japanese wire service Kyodo said the food poisoning in Japan was likely committed by a person or persons with a grudge against the management of the producer. Wei said the reports were mere subjective guesswork.

Wei Chuanzhong, Deputy Director of AQSIQ said "According to investigation results from both sides, this incident was not caused by dumplings containing insecticide. China hopes the two parties will form a joint team to conduct a thorough investigation of all possible processes."

Wei said Hebei Province dumpling-maker Tianyang Food Plant has been exporting to Japan for 10 years, and that the Chinese workers are very friendly to the country. Moreover, since the workers' interest is closely tied to the Japanese importer, there was no reason for them to sabotage their product.

Earlier this month, Japanese investigators said they had not detected any abnormalities at the Tianyang Food Plant after a half-day inspection tour.

Wei added that, so far, Japan had not provided China with any samples of the dumplings that sickened the Japanese consumers. No test reports or related evidence were provided either.

Japanese media reported 10 people fell ill in December and January, after consuming frozen meat dumplings produced by Tianyang Food Plant. But tests showed the rest of the dumplings from the same batches sold in Japan, totaling more than 2000 packages, were safe. So were all the other products made by the Chinese company.

Editor:Xiong Qu