最近无意中从网上看到下面的报道。不管你信还是不信,的确令人担忧啊。因为,它确实与每个海内海外的中国人的生活密切相关。
来源:http://www.cbc.ca/cp/health/080206/x020615A.html
Japan finds second type of pesticide in Chinese dumplings
TOKYO - As Japanese officials disclosed more evidence that may point to deliberate poisoning of the China-made dumplings that sickened at least 10 people here, Beijing suggested for the first time on Wednesday that the contamination could have been sabotage.
The statement by a senior Chinese official to Japan's NHK broadcaster came as tests found a second type of pesticide in dumplings made by a Chinese company.
Japanese Consumer Cooperative Union, a retailer, said tests have detected the insecticide dichlorvos in both the filling and dough of frozen dumplings made in June by China's Tianyang Food Processing Ltd.
Tianyang was the producer of dumplings contaminated with the pesticide methamidophos that have been blamed for a string of illnesses in western and central Japan since December. The contamination has triggered a nationwide panic over food safety.
Later, officials also said that benzene, one of the three chemicals detected on several dumpling packages and apparently used as a solvent, had been banned in Japan for nearly 20 years, suggesting a contamination before shipment to Japan.
In Beijing, Wei Chunazhong, vice-minister of the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, said the contamination may have been sabotage by extremists opposing Japan-China friendship.
"A group of elements who do not wish development of China-Japan friendship may have taken extreme steps to destroy our relations," Wei said as he met a Japanese fact-finding mission, suggesting a crime for the first time.
Wei, who was quoted by Japan's public broadcaster NHK, said, however, the contamination during manufacturing process is unlikely.
China and Japan have exchanged teams of investigators in recent days to determine the cause of the contamination, which some Japanese officials suspect may have been deliberate. Japanese police departments in affected areas have also officially launched an investigation into the contamination as an attempted murder case.
While it was not immediately clear whether the two contaminations were related, the recent disclosures have heightened Japanese fears over the safety of products from China, a growing source of cheap foods in high-priced Japan.
"The most important task is to prevent damage from spreading and ... find out what was the cause and what really happened," Japanese Health Minister Yoichi Masuzoe said Wednesday. "What we need primarily is co-operation between Japan and China."
The two countries have agreed to improve their information sharing, Shigeru Hotta, assistant vice minister for quality of life policy at Japan's cabinet Office, told reporters after talks between Japanese and Chinese food safety officials in Tokyo.
"We agreed to co-operate and find out what caused the problem quickly," said Li Chunfeng, who led the Chinese delegation. "I swear that Chinese food is safe."
In the apparent dichlorvos contamination, dumplings were recalled after a worker at one of the consumer union's outlets complained of an oil-like odour in November, the union, widely known as Co-op, said in a statement Tuesday.
Co-op said tests this week have found 110 parts per million of dichlorvos in the dumpling dough and 0.42 ppm in the filling. Japanese residue limits for the pesticide are set at one ppm in wheat and 0.1 ppm in cabbage - both ingredients of the dumplings.
A Co-op spokeswoman, speaking on condition of anonymity under company policy, confirmed the findings Wednesday.
Agriculture Ministry official Makoto Irie said dichlorvos containing the solvent benzene is "not available in Japan." Benzene has been banned as insecticide solvent for almost 20 years in Japan.
The dumpling contamination has set off a nationwide scare since last week. Authorities have ordered the recall of all products made by Tianyang, while many stores and restaurants have stopped offering Chinese food products altogether.
Traces of the insecticide methamidophos were found in the dumplings, on the packaging and in the vomit of the 10 people who were sickened after eating two separate brands of Tianyang dumplings.
Investigators also found traces of methamidophos in six bags of the dumplings recalled over the weekend. Punctures were found in a handful of the bags that were recalled or linked to poisonings.
China's product safety agency conducted tests on the ingredients of Tianyang dumplings from the same batch sent to Japan, but found none of the insecticide cited by Japanese authorities