Donut chain latest in string of Japan food scandals

By Chisa Fujioka

TOKYO (Reuters) - Another day, another food scandal in Japan.

Mister Donut, a chain of donut stores, stopped selling two kinds of fruit drinks on Wednesday after finding they contained expired syrups, the latest in a string of scandals to plague a country obsessed with food safety.

Pictures of company executives bowing their heads deep in apology have become near-daily fare on TV news programs in recent days, rattling consumers who had been more worried about imports from China and a long-running row over U.S. beef.

Before Mister Donut, operated in Japan by Duskin Co Ltd, confectionary maker Akafuku Co was found to have fudged production and expiry dates for its bean paste-covered rice cakes for over 30 years.

A confectioner selling a similar product, which saw sales sky-rocket after Akafuku's scandal, has now been reported to have extended expiration dates for its sweets and printed false ingredient tables.

The scandals, which industry watchers say have come to light from whistle-blowers, have angered consumer groups, who blame companies for duping customers in pursuit of easy profits.

"Companies are lacking in morals," said Yoko Tomiyama, chairperson of the Consumers Union of Japan. "Increasingly, management policies are putting priority on economic efficiency."

There have been no recent reports consumers falling ill from the mislabeled goods, but food scares have nonetheless dismayed the public, in a land where elaborately packaged food is often given as a gift.

In 2000, more than 10,000 people suffered food poisoning after drinking tainted milk made by Snow Brand Milk Products at a plant that was later found to have violated hygiene standards.

The government would improve oversight of companies and continue releasing the names of the companies at fault, an official said on Wednesday, but he added there were no plans for stricter punishment, which now include fines after two warnings to correct false labeling.

"Making public the company name alone hurts the company's credibility and can help prevent the mislabeling from occurring again," said Masaya Nakamura, an official at the labeling and standards division at the Farm Ministry.

The publicity has also encouraged consumers and company staff to tip the government off, he said.

In another high-profile case, Fujiya Co Ltd admitted in January it had shipped cream puffs and other products made with stale ingredients, tarnishing its image as the children's cake maker.

In August, media went into a frenzy after a sweets maker in the northern island of Hokkaido was found to have mislabeled expiry dates for chocolate cookies popular with tourists.

Food scares have not been limited to sweets. Police arrested executives of a meat-packer last week on suspicion of labeling minced meat as purely beef when the meat had been mixed with pork and chicken.

(Additional reporting by Yoko Kubota)