OSAKA -- Health authorities have announced that 1,524 people have complained of illness in Osaka and seven other prefectures in western Japan after drinking low-fat milk products produced by Snow Brand Milk Products Co.
Officials of a medical laboratory in Wakayama said in the afternoon that they detected a gene linked to the toxin present in yellow staphyloccus in leftover milk that the victims had drunk.
The officials added, however, that they are not yet able to determine whether it was the cause of the food poisoning outbreak, since staphyloccus itself is occasionally found in milk.