Japan copes with tainted food outbreak

In what appears to be a country-wide outbreak of food poisoning, 350 people in Japan have been sickened by the pesticide malathion after eating frozen chicken teriyaki with mayonnaise, cream corn croquettes or pizza, according to a police investigation.

The outbreak is being traced to Maruha Nichiro Holdings, Japan’s largest seafood firm that runs a plant north of Tokyo. The company said it had received 460,000 calls from concerned consumers. Symptoms include vomiting and diarrhea. Some customers complained of an odor as the foods were heating up.

Malathion is usually used to fight bug infestations in corn and rice fields. Some 1.2 million packages have been recovered but that still leaves 5.2 million packages unaccounted for. Maruha Nichiro says that none of the contaminated products have been shipped to other countries.

Japanese media are reporting that police suspect the malathion was mixed into the products at the plant, which is run by Aqli Foods, a company owned by Maruha Nichiro. The products are thought to have been made in October and November.

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