Chinese dumplings spark panic

2008-01-31 19:15

Tokyo - China and Japan scrambled to ease public alarm on Thursday as hundreds of Japanese reported feeling ill from eating Chinese-made dumplings, triggering an emergency cabinet session in Tokyo.

The cabinet met to discuss a response as television networks broadcast the stories of people who said they vomited, passed out and felt near death after eating the frozen meat dumplings.

China - Japan's largest trading partner - said pre-export tests had found no pesticides in the product, but still ordered the companies which made them to halt production and recall similar items from Japan.

Meanwhile South Korea's food and drug administration ordered checks on all dumplings from China, although officials said none of the brands at the centre of the Japan scare appeared to have been exported there.

Whatever the origin, the health scare is another public relations blow for China, whose rapid growth is linked to its status as the world's manufacturing hub.

Grave concern for China

Scandals over a range of Chinese-made goods, including pet food, toothpaste, toys and other products have led to boycott calls in the United States.

Japan is heavily dependent on food imports, with China its second biggest supplier after the United States.

Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura raised the issue during talks with China's Assistant Foreign Minister He Yafei, who was visiting to arrange a rare visit by Chinese President Hu Jintao as the two nations work to boost often strained ties.

"This is a grave concern for China as well," said Komura. "This is about food safety, the most-important interest for people.

"But it will not hurt relations between Japan and China."

Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda told parliament he discussed food safety during his own trip to Beijing in December.

Kyodo News said 451 people in 35 of Japan's 47 prefectures had told authorities they had felt ill after eating dumplings imported from China.

A health ministry official said the government had confirmed only that 13 people fell ill, including a five-year-old girl who is in a serious condition.

TV Asahi broadcast interviews with a family in the western town of Takasago who said they spent up to three weeks in hospital after eating the dumplings.

"They tasted bitter. I felt dizzy some 30 seconds after I had them, and I collapsed," said an 18-year-old boy who, like other family members, asked not to be identified.

Body was paralysed

Then, five minutes later, his 51-year-old father's body started twitching. "With so much nausea and diarrhoea, I thought for two days that I was dying," the father said.

The 47-year-old mother said she could not walk or talk. "My whole body was paralysed and my eyes kept watering," she said. "I don't want to buy frozen food any more."

In China, authorities promised an investigation, but said pre-export tests on ginger and cabbage in the dumplings showed them to be up to standard.

- AFP