YOKOHAMA (Kyodo) Six people, including an employee of Ito-Yokado Co., were arrested Wednesday for allegedly mislabeling frozen broiled eel imported from China by the major supermarket chain and reselling the seafood.
Yuki Oshima, the 34-year-old female employee at Ito-Yokado, and the others are suspected of conspiring to falsely name the importer as Takayama Seafood Co., a fisheries wholesaler in Tokyo, and reselling the eel products to Yokoyama-based seafood distributor Yamato Foods Co. and others last year, the police said.
Ito-Yokado imported the eel in 2004 and 2005 and sold some to Takayama Seafood sometime around 2006. The suspects then allegedly repacked the products into boxes with a label indicating "Takayama" as the importer.