Repercussions of an Incident Involving Contamination of Chinese-made Frozen Gyouza Dumplings with Agricultural Chemicals

— From the Perspective of a Scientist Involved in the Analysis —

Abstract

A recent incident involving contamination of Chinese-made frozen gyouza dumplings with agricultural chemicals has raised many issues. These include not only food safety, but also problem areas of the Food Sanitation Law, dependence on frozen processed foods, Japan’s low rate of food self-sufficiency, and international relations with China. The present paper gives an outline of the incident and discusses related issues, including problem areas of the Food Sanitation Law and problems with analytical methods, from the perspective of a scientist engaged in analysis operations related to the incident.