Chloric acid detected in purified underground water at Itoham Foods' factory

Tuesday 28th October, 07:09 AM JST

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NuckinFutz at 08:27 AM JST - 28th October

The only reason this is being "discovered" is that self-admission and apologies go over better than getting caught red-handed. Don't think for one minute that these companies are discovering anything new. They have been and will continue to ignore what few food safety laws exist in this country. If they can make a single yen profit your health and well being is of no concern. At least the Chinese will punish those involved (most likely with a bullet in the back of the head). Japanese will accept a bow and the companies will go back to business as usual tomorrow.
some14some at 08:35 AM JST - 28th October

Article offers good example of : blind somebody with science, No mention of harmful effects (short term or long term) of using chemically contaminated water in food plants and reason behind Itoham's delayed recall action.
soldave at 08:42 AM JST - 28th October

Good to see Japan trying to get back some of the newspaper column inches that China has been having in recent months
Dogdog at 08:56 AM JST - 28th October

Surprise surprise, never expected this. Nor will I expect another domestic food producing company to 'fess up' to the sudden discovery that they have been selling contaminated foodstuffs to the Japanese public in the next couple of days.

RJD_JR: the China comparison is irrelevant,

The comparison is very relevent because the Japanese are fed by JAS and others on a xenophobic diet of 'Japanese companies and ethics, and foodstuffs are different from those evil foreign companies and foodstuffs. Trust us, no matter the cost to you as the consummer and the taxpayer', when clearly they are no different.

At least I don't have to subsidize the Chinese food producers with my taxes to poison me, they do it for free.
timeon at 10:05 AM JST - 28th October

was it chloric acid or hydrochloric acid?
BlackFlag at 10:09 AM JST - 28th October

Kashiwa, I live here. great to be in the national news, not
thepro at 10:19 AM JST - 28th October

Don't drink the water
fatloser at 10:53 AM JST - 28th October

It would have been so easy for them to connect into the city water supply while they found a way to deal with their problem wells. But as usual they chose to lie. My QUESTION is WHEN DID THIS PROBLEM START?? My GUESS is about 10 years ago
soldave at 11:20 AM JST - 28th October

fatloser - Am not sure it will come out when this started and how long it has been known about.
ptolemy at 11:23 AM JST - 28th October

Japan does feed the populace who live here on their domestic production. Safety Japan has taken a hit lately, and dirty things have been going on quite a while it appears. SO FAR nobody has gotten sick or died, BUT that could change, lets hope not. If it does the standard: "Sorry to have caused trouble, and I promise to see it does not happen again." will be meaningless.

The Japanese populace have already lost faith in their politicians and economy, the domestic food market cannot afford any loss of public trust, it is barely hanging on.

Nissin and Ito Ham are not small companies, and they do export. Nissin all over the world, and Ito Ham in Asia. SO FAR none of their exported merchandise has made anyone sick.
fatloser at 11:26 AM JST - 28th October

Often they say how long it has been going on after they have exhausted their supply of fabrications and lies. When their champion liar is prostrate from exhaustion and the Ham-ster is cornered the truth will slip out. It's all part of the "healing" process. Big Japanese food companies don't lose, they only suffer minor setbacks. I'm tempted to say 15 to 20 years ,now. There isn't time to start a new ham company and this one has a baseball team and many people "love" it...like Yukijirushi and Fujiya and Akafuku-moochi and that cookie company in Hokkaido...ect
boobug at 12:06 PM JST - 28th October

Could this get any more embarrasing for the Japanese ? I mean really now ! They spent the last few years attacking American beef. Only to find that US beef is 10X's more safe than the local mislabled stuff. Then Japan goes on a media crusade attacking Chinese goods, and for fairly good reasons. But while all the red herrings are being dangled about for the populace to goggle over one Japanese company after another continues to poison the locals with tainted, chemical laced, and downright foul food products. And like the head of MeatHope said, "This is only the tip of the iceberg" ! As for me ? Nothing but Costco and "made in the USA". You all can have your contaminated crap found here in Japan, the nation of illogical hypocrits !
smithinjapan at 02:24 PM JST - 28th October

boobug: While I LOVE CostCo and companies like FBC (Foreign Buyer's Club), and the god-like gifts you can order from them and are unable to buy anywhere else in this country, switching 100% to CostCo (and I'm sure you're just exaggerating) would not be the smartest idea... hehehe. Save that for the comfort foods and staples you can get frozen, and befriend a few 'hobby-farmers' or push the people you know and trust to swap some goods.

On a more serious note, the news of how long it's been going on won't come out until well after the company president resigns (and looks dignified in doing so because no serious health problems have occurred yet, and he's 'taking responsibility'). When the new guy is in place and health problems DO start occurring down the road, it'll come out, but the old president will be living in another country and soaking up the sun... or will have passed away by then.

I suspect that, not just due to Japanese products, but all around the world in the next 10 years people currently in their 30s are going to start developing all sorts of cancers, and for people in their 20s it may take less. They will be common cancers, but common amongst people in their senior years. They will be occurring in huge population explosions because that's the generation that has taken most to the fast food/frozen/instant products that have replaced a well cooked meal using healthy ingredients. I'm not necessarily blaming them; they all take advantage of the ease and speed with which a meal can be bought or/and prepared. I'm blaming a society of food producers that increased methods and speeds of slaughter, production/preparation, and has taken clear short cuts with ingredients in the name of massive profits. All of the additives and preservatives are going to take MASSIVE tolls in the near future, and with all the poisons companies knowingly use to boot... well... the burden to the health systems of the world will be astounding.
Sammi33 at 02:27 PM JST - 28th October

Luckily, I rarely buy prepackaged crap. I only buy cheap stuff if it says "no preservatives". I bought prepackaged ham once, because it said "no added sugar" and once in a great while I buy weiners for soup or something. Most of the bacon, ham, sausage in Japan is way too overpriced for some oversweetened, processed meat product. I buy ham if it's the scraps of the fresh cut ham, not prepackaged. And I tend to stay away from most prepackaged pizza/spaghetti food product I see, because it usually contains corn, tuna, potato, tarako, or all of the above. And when I want pizza, I usually go for cheese, anchovies, spinach, peppers, etc.
barfly08 at 05:14 PM JST - 28th October

Sammi33, just where are you buying your so called "non-preservative" foods ? I doubt it's in Japan. I know of now organic food chain here and I've read horror stories about the amounts of chemicals that are added to Japanese food. I mean do you really think that shocking pink pickles in your bento were grown that way ?