China, after dumplings row, sniffs at Japan sauces

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20081031/wl_nm/us_china_japan_food_3

Fri Oct 31, 2:36 am ETBEIJING (Reuters) – China, accused in Japan of producing tainted frozen beans and dodgy dumplings, now says it has found toxic chemicals used in paint in Japanese mustard and soy sauce.

China has been swept by a series of food- and product-safety scandals in recent months involving goods as diverse as toys, tyres, toothpaste, pet food, fish and baby cribs and is fighting a scare over melamine found in milk and other products.

China said this month it had no evidence that frozen beans pulled from the shelves in Japan were tainted with pesticide. Earlier this year, several Japanese were made ill by Chinese-made dumplings that also contained pesticide, but a joint investigation failed to reveal how the contamination occurred.

Tests conducted by quarantine officials found Japan-produced soy sauce and mustard sauce had been contaminated by toluene and acetic ester, Xinhua news agency said on Friday.

"This would risk people's health," Xinhua said, citing experts on the chemicals which are used in paint and paint thinners.

"They will lead to headaches and vomiting if people eat food tainted with them," Xinhua said.


The sauces were produced by three Japanese factories, Xinhua said without revealing the names of the producers. The watchdog ordered Chinese companies to test similar products and take them off the shelves, the report said.

No related sicknesses had been reported in China, but the two chemicals had caused some sickness in Japan, it added.

Warming diplomacy between China and Japan over the last two years has done little to smooth rough edges. Chinese memories of Japan's invasion and brutal occupation of parts of the country from 1931 to 1945 run deep.

Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso had his first meeting with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao last weekend at an Asia-Europe summit, adding to a string of high-level visits since nationalist Junichiro Koizumi stepped down as Japanese prime minister in 2006.

A months-long scandal over melamine appearing in Chinese milk products and eggs has caused thousands of children to fall ill in China and killed at least four.

(Reporting by Beijing newsroom; Editing by Nick Macfie)