« China Mobile Wants iPhone | Home | Bad Molecule: Baxter Points Finger At China Supplier In Heparin Case »
Japan Steps Up Quality Efforts in China Following Gyoza Scare
By Paul Midler | March 3, 2008
Japan Tobacco is establishing a quality control center in China, which will provide frequent checks of food suppliers there. Japan Tobacco imports about US$100 million worth of frozen product from China each year. For those who don’t know what this is about, a shipment of frozen gyoza from China to Japan was found to contain pesticides, and a joint investigation could not find the source of the contamination. Japan is going as far as to take inspectors onto the farms where the produce is grown.
If that’s what it takes…
Topics: China |
March 3rd, 2008 at 10:57 pm
Great! Do you think now they’ll start allowing Japanese and American beef back into China? I think that works well in a balance of trade, no? China’s producers screw over Japan, Japan invests $100 million (makes no sense), and then China starts buying millions in beef from Japan. This is scripted, I’m sure of it.
March 3rd, 2008 at 11:37 pm
Frozen food purchases were said to be $100 million. No idea how much is actually being invested in quality facilities. Would imagine that it’s a lot, though. I would not argue against your suggestion that that are broader political implications… though I am not clear.
March 4th, 2008 at 7:18 am
Good for Japan Tobacco for taking up this issue, but I get the feeling that the quality problems in China will need more than just quality control centers setup by foreign companies. I do like that since the Chinese couldn’t figure it out, the Japanese are stepping up; its sending a direct message to Chinese factories to get it together.