The Japanese government plans to shake up the country’s guidelines governing food recalls in the wake of the Itoham Foods cyanogen scandal.
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Tokyo has been moved to act after it emerged that Itoham had waited a month after finding excessive levels of the toxin in groundwater used for processing before informing the public and making a recall.
“We already have the very stiff guidelines from the Agriculture Production Bureau, General Food Policy Bureau and Food Safety and Consumer Affairs Bureau, and really consumers should be reassured that the government demands consumers’ safety and demands company’s responsibilities,” said farm minister Shigeru Ishiba. “The new clearer guidelines should not discourage companies from making such voluntary announcements or recalls.”
Central and local governments are authorised to order food makers to recall dangerous products. But, with a long history of tainted food cover-ups in Japan, the government has been putting pressure on firms to make voluntary recalls on potentially dangerous products.
This week, Itoham, the country’s second-largest meat processor, voluntarily recalled a total of 13 types of products. The company has so far received no reports of health problems, it said.
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