12 March 2008 – A nationwide survey, the results of which were analysed during the International Roundtable Conference on “Food Safety: International Trade, Sustainable Production, Social Responsibility”, revealed that China is believed to be the main cause of food safety-related problems in Japan.
Some 500 men and 500 Japanese women were polled for a survey by Media Interactive one week after the onset of the Chinese dumpling scandal, which hit Japan at the end of January. Ms. Misako Yasui, Director of Public Relations at the Tokyo Foundation, analysed the results of the survey in her presentation, “The Perceptions of Japanese Consumers vis-à-vis Food Safety”.
The poll showed that China was thought to be responsible for most food safety scares, with 95.1% of respondents citing it as a cause of recent food safety scandals, ahead of Japan (36.3%), the US (26.8%) and India (6.3%). Some 86.9% of those polled believed that, of all countries in the world, China had the worst track record in terms of food safety.
Although only 13.3% of Japan’s food and health ingredients come from China, a massive 93.8% thought that Japanese dependency on Chinese imports was high or too high, and 72.1% would like to see a lesser dependency on China.
Most worryingly for Chinese food exporters, an overwhelming majority of respondents (98.4%) thought that random inspections of Chinese food industry by Japanese authorities weren’t a satisfactory solution to the issue, whilst 69.3% believed that it would take China longer than ten years to solve its food safety problems.
Finally, 72.8% declared that, given the choice, they would rather spend more on a safe food product than buy a cheaper, potentially unsafe food item.
Japan, Asia’s largest economy, has the lowest self-sufficiency rate of all G7 countries. China is Japan’s second food supplier, behind the US and just ahead of the EU.
Sales of frozen food at major retailer Daiei Inc. were down 30% on year a week after the news of the poisoned dumplings was made public, whilst sales of domestic food products surged, sometimes by more than 150%, according to media reports.
At Foodex Japan, one of Asia’s largest food exhibitions, the number of booths set up by Chinese producers fell by one-third, although organisers denied this had anything to do with the latest food scare.