The case of intentional food contamination at a subsidiary of Maruha Nichiro Holdings Inc. has exposed shortcomings in the product safety measures taken by Japanese food makers. While a criminal investigation is expected to shed more light on how and why the suspect — a contract employee of the group's frozen food plant in Oizumi, Gunma Prefecture — laced products with pesticide, the system at the plant designed to prevent such an act was insufficient. The company's slow response to the initial reports of health complaints from consumers may also have expanded the scope of poisoning.
The suspect has reportedly confessed to investigators that he injected the pesticide malathion into frozen foods such as pizza and croquettes during the manufacturing process in October. More than 2,800 people across the country complained of illness after eating products shipped from the plant.
Top executives of Maruha Nichiro and the subsidiary Aqlifoods Co. have apologized and offered to step down to take responsibility. But what is needed is an examination of how the suspect was able to circumvent the system supposedly in place at the plant to ensure product safety and what measures should be introduced to plug security loopholes. The 49-year-old worker, who reportedly had a grudge against the plant's management over working conditions, has been quoted as telling his colleagues that anybody at the plant would have been able to do what he did.