The president of Japanese confectioner Fujiya Company Rintaro Fujii has tendered his resignation following a major food safety scandal that has seen at least 31 retail chains suspend sale of Fujiya confectionery after it came to light that the company repeatedly used ingredients past their use-by-dates to manufacture products.
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“I’m responsible for causing concern to society. I’ll resign after remedying the situation and working out measures to restore the public’s confidence in us,” Fujii told a press conference in Tokyo yesterday (15 January).
It recently emerged in the Japanese media that Fujiya shipped cream puffs made from old milk. It was subsequently uncovered that the company shipped contaminated sweets in June last year, even though Fujiya knew that they contained bacteria at levels about ten times the density permitted under Food Sanitation Law.
The Tokyo-based confectionery giant announced last Thursday that it would temporarily halt the sale of sweets in Japan from its 890 confectionery shops and restaurants. The company has said that it will compensate its franchisees, of which there are 707 throughout Japan.
“This corporation is not protected as a food enterprise because its quality control system is insufficient,” the company said in a statement. It added that it was suspending the operation of all Ocean Candy factories, which include the Saitama factory where the incident arose, until “the thoroughness of quality control is assured”.
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By GlobalData
