Beijing, Feb. 13 - China's top watchdog for quality on Wednesday dismissed reports that factory workers could have deliberately poisoned dumplings blamed for sickening at least 10 people in Japan.
Investigations by the agency and police have found nothing unusual at the Tianyang Food Processing Ltd. dumpling factory in Hebei province, said Wei Chuanzhong, deputy head of the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection, and Quarantine.
"There is almost no possibility anyone could disrupt the environment at that factory for production, processing and transport for export," he said at a news conference.
His comments came one day after Japan's Kyodo News agency issued a report citing a local Chinese official who said poor work conditions may have prompted workers to poison the dumplings.
Wei dismissed the report as speculation.
Traces of methamidophos, an insecticide banned in Japan, were found in the dumplings, on the packaging and in the vomit of the 10 people who were sickened after eating two separate brands of Tianyang dumplings.
China's product safety agency conducted tests on the ingredients of Tianyang dumplings from the same batch sent to Japan, but said it found none of the insecticide cited by Japanese authorities.
Officials on both sides have suggested the poisonings in December and January may have been deliberate. Wei has been quoted in Japanese media as saying that the contamination may have been sabotage by extremists opposing friendship between Japan and China.
The case has touched off a food-safety scare in Japan, a key export market for China, and set back Beijing's efforts to shore up foreign consumer confidence in exports after a series of food and product safety scandals last year.
Wei called for a food safety monitoring system between the two countries, similar to those in place between China and other major trading partners like the European Union and the U.S.
For a decade, Beijing has been trying to restrict the use of methamidophos, and in 2004 banned its use on fruit and vegetable crops. The pesticide is known to be so deadly that farmers drink it to commit suicide.
Wei said the dumplings case was an isolated one and insisted food at the Beijing Olympics this summer would be safe.
"The food safety at the Olympics is completely guaranteed," he said.