Kirin Beverage Corp. is continuing to sell its Kirin Speed sport drink through some 40,000 vending machines nationwide despite a recall of the product announced Saturday, company officials said Monday.

Kirin Beverage products are sold through a network of 170,000 vending machines. The 40,000 machines in question are maintained directly by the company's employees, whereas the rest are maintained by retailers under arrangements with the beverage maker.

Many of the machines still selling Kirin Speed are installed at the entrances to supermarkets and small retailers.

Kirin Beverage, the soft-drink unit of Kirin Brewery Co., announced Saturday that it was recalling 1.36 million cans and bottles of Kirin Speed, which is believed to have made 10 people sick. Four were senior high students who were treated by doctors.

Subject to the recall are 340- and 490-milliliter cans and 1.5-liter plastic bottles manufactured between May 29 and June 17 at Kirin Beverage's factory in Samukawa, Kanagawa Prefecture, Kirin said.

Kirin Beverage has failed to post warning notices on vending machines selling the drink, even after the announcement of the recall, the officials said.

A Kirin Beverage spokesman said, "The number of our service staff is limited, so we have had to put priority on recalling the products being sold at staffed outlets (rather than from vending machines)."

"We have gradually taken measures to halt the sales of the product through vending machines but are not sure whether we could take necessary measures for all the vending machines by Monday," the spokesman said.

Kirin Beverage officials said Saturday that vitamins in the drink had deteriorated due to heat during manufacturing, although they said no germs or toxic substances have been detected.

The company has received at least 29 complaints about the drink from consumers since July 5, with some reporting that it tasted or smelled peculiar.

Bad buns recalled

NARA (Kyodo) Shikishima Baking Co. issued a recall for a type of steamed bun Monday after receiving 10 complaints of mold in the products, Nara prefectural health officials said Monday.

Shikishima, one of the country's leading bakeries, confirmed that some of its buns contained "mold-like substances." Health officials are currently trying to determine the substances' nature.

The products were made from Thursday to Saturday at its factory in Yamatokoriyama city, Nara Prefecture.

As of Monday, the company had received about 1,500 of the 7,649 buns subject to recall. The products have expiry dates of today.

The steamed buns, containing raw sugar, or "Kurotomushipan," are a new product that went on sale July 1. They were shipped to 11 prefectures in western Japan.

Production of the product was suspended Sunday at the Yamatokoriyama plant and at two others -- one in Kariya, Aichi Prefecture, and another in Noda, Chiba Prefecture.

Founded in 1919, the Nagoya-based company is known by two brand names -- Shikishima, the original brand, in western Japan, and Pasco, an acronym of Pan-Shikishima Company, in eastern Japan.