Police on Monday arrested seven executives of Zen-Noh Chicken Foods Corp. and a Kagoshima chicken-processing firm for allegedly conspiring to mislabel imported chicken as higher priced domestic meat as part of a fraud scam.
Police in Saitama and Kagoshima prefectures made the arrests after questioning the executives earlier in the day in connection with suspected violations of a law covering unfair competition.
According to police, Zen-Noh Chicken Foods conspired with Kagoshima Kumiai Chicken Foods in November to label chicken imported mainly from Thailand and China as domestic meat.
The seven have owned up to the fraud, according to police.