A housewife living in Nichinan, Miyazaki Prefecture, found a 2.5-cm-long moth larva in a package of Sunrise frozen precut spinach earlier this month, local health officials said Monday.
The larva, which is common to spinach, most likely stayed inside the package because the leafy green vegetable had not been properly washed before being packaged in November at Sunrise's processing plant in Ebino, Miyazaki Prefecture, the officials said.
The woman informed health officials on Dec. 8. She had bought the spinach from a local farm cooperative on Dec. 3. The cooperative distributes the product throughout the prefecture.
The cooperative, based in the prefectural capital of Miyazaki, decided not to recall the frozen spinach, as no other case has come to light, the officials said.