The Health and Welfare Ministry on Friday set up a 12-member team to carry out its own inspections of Snow Brand Milk Products Co.'s 20 plants.

The inspections will begin early next week.

In addition, ministry officials also agreed to review an ordinance allowing manufacturers to recycle milk into other products under certain conditions.

Snow Brand, whose products made at its Osaka plant have have sickened more than 14,000 people, mainly in western Japan, since late June, was found to have been recycling milk that did not meet the conditions of the ordinance.

Ministry sources said the review may lead to a revision of the ordinance itself.

The ministry decided earlier in the day to revoke the Osaka plant's authorization as a Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point for processed milk and milk products effective the same day.

Investigative sources said Friday that Snow Brand recycled low-fat milk returned to its Osaka plant from June 23 to June 26, when production of tainted milk is thought to have peaked.

The Osaka Municipal Government and prefectural police suspect that bacteria such as the staphylococcus aureus may have been produced when low-fat milk that had been returned was combined with fresh ingredients to make new batches of the same kind of milk, the sources said.

It was found that workers opened the returned milk cartons with their bare hands before pouring the contents into a tank, according to municipal officials.

Snow Brand has acknowledged that this work was done outside.

Panel to grill Snow

A Diet panel will hold intensive discussions on Wednesday on the recent food poisoning involving Snow Brand Milk Products Co., members of the panel said Friday.

The Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Committee of the House of Representatives has scheduled the special session despite the fact that the Lower House is now on a break, they said.

Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Minister Yoichi Tani will attend the session, in which lawmakers will question leaders in the milk industry about the causes of the food poisoning by Snow Brand, Japan's top dairy product maker, they added.

Since late June, more than 14,000 people in 13 prefectures in western Japan reported becoming sick after drinking Snow Brand's low-fat and calcium-enriched milk.