Article: Japanese frozen food makers hit hard by fallout from tainted dumpling scare: frozen food sales declining for top five manufacturers. Frozen imports from China, source of tainted dumplings, also way off. Truth in country-of-origin packaging also at issue.(FOOD PRODUCT SAFETY)

A much-publicized food poisoning scare involving pesticide-tainted frozen gyoza dumplings from China cut into sales of five major Japanese frozen food makers for fiscal 2007, costing them 16.4 billion yen, according to company reports.

Only ten consumers were ever definitely reported to have taken sick from the dumplings, but media reports suggested that victims numbered in the thousands, and the resulting panic has cut into Chinese imports as well as Japanese sales.

Of the five frozen food companies, Japan Tobacco suffered the largest earnings impact from the poisoning scare, with sales pushed down by 6.3 billion yen and operating profit by 1.4 billion yen. It was JT ...

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