The concentration of a pesticide residue detected in part of a croquette made by Maruha Nichiro Holdings Inc. subsidiary Aqlifoods Co. in Gunma Prefecture was 2.6 million times higher than the acceptable level, a prefectural official said Tuesday without elaborating on the extent of the health risk.
The Gunma Prefectural Police, who raided the Aqlifoods factory Saturday, suspect someone deliberately poisoned the company's frozen foods after they were produced, using organic phosphate malathion, a common pesticide but not one used by the firm in its manufacturing process.
The croquette sample was found to have some 26,000 parts per million of the pesticide. The level is also more than double the earlier announced 12,734 ppm for an entire croquette. It is also above the earlier revealed maximum 15,000 ppm found in another type of croquette.