Police on Friday searched the Tokyo head office of Marubeni Chikusan Corp., a unit of trading house Marubeni Corp., over the false labeling of at least 1,700 tons of chicken since 1999.

Investigators also raided Marubeni Chikusan's branch office in Sendai.

Marubeni Chikusan sold 700 tons of Brazilian chicken labeled as higher-priced domestic poultry to some 80 mass retailers between April 1999 and last February, the Fair Trade Commission said.

During the same period, the company sold some 1,000 tons of ordinary chicken as special brand-name chicken.

In March, Marubeni Chikusan said that its Sendai branch passed off chicken imported from Brazil as higher-priced domestic birds.

It is believed the illegal labeling may have occurred at other facilities as well.

But Marubeni Chikusan President Hitoshi Nishizono recently told the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries that

The FTC has issued cease-and-desist orders to Marubeni Chikusan and to Nishizono, who resigned in June to take responsibility.