OSAKA -- Prosecutors last year made an inappropriate decision when they declined to indict two former executives of Snow Brand Milk Products Co. in connection with a mass food-poisoning outbreak, the No. 1 Osaka Inquest of Prosecution has ruled, it was learned Thursday.
The case against former Snow Brand President Tetsuro Ishikawa, 68, and ex-Managing Director Hiroshi Soma, 63, who allegedly committed professional negligence resulting in injury and death, was sent to the Osaka District Public Prosecutor's Office.
In the food-poisoning scare, which began in June 2000, dairy products manufactured at the firm's Osaka factory sickened roughly 13,400 people, with one person dying as a result.