(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-02-21 16:13

BEIJING  -- A team of senior Chinese police officers is to go to Japan to assist the investigation into the alleged poisoning of Chinese-made dumplings, China's Ministry of Public Security (MPS) said on Thursday.

The team, led by the Yu Xinmin, vice director of the MPS criminal investigation bureau, would exchange information and views with Japanese police, said a notice on the MPS website.

Yu would be accompanied by senior criminal investigators Wu Guoqing and Cui Daozhi and toxicologist Wang Guiqiang.

The notice gave no further details.

Japanese media reported on January 30 that at least 10 people in the Hyogo and Chiba prefectures reported stomachaches, vomiting or diarrhoea after eating the imported dumplings.

Earlier this month, Japanese and Chinese investigators inspected the manufacturer, Tianying Food Plant, in Hebei Province, but found nothing irregular. They also found no problems related to the purchase of raw materials or the production process.

Cheng Fang, the director of Hebei Province's quality inspection agency said the two batches of dumplings involved in the case were unlikely to have been contaminated during the transportation process in China.

Di Menglu, head of Tianyang, quoted a statement from Japan's Ministry of Education dated February 6, which said that schools serving dumplings from the same batches had reported no poisoning cases.

Tianyang Food Plant has been exporting to Japan for 10 years, and sent 3,970 tonnes of dumplings to Japan last year.

Earlier tests showed the rest of the dumplings from the same batches sold in Japan, totaling more than 2,000 packages, were safe. So were all the other products made by the Chinese company.

Sympathy to Japanese victims in food poisoning case

TOKYO -- Visiting Chinese State Councilor Tang Jiaxuan Thursday extended sympathy to Japanese victims in a recent food poisoning case involving frozen dumplings made in China.

"The Chinese government is highly concerned about the dumpling case, and I would like to extend my sincere regards to the victims," Tang said at a reception organized by the Chinese embassy.

We hope that the two countries closely cooperate with each other to find out the truth as early as possible, Tang added.

The state councilor reiterated that on food safety, the Chinese government, which sticks to the people-oriented policy, is not only responsible to 1.3 billion Chinese people, but also responsible to people who eat China-made food in foreign countries.

This is the Chinese government's unswerving policy, he added.

Tang arrived in Tokyo later Wednesday for a four-day visit at the invitation of the Japanese government.