The president of a food-related company in Zushi City, Kanagawa Prefecture, was referred to the prosecutor's office on suspicion of violating the Food Labeling Act for selling pickles made with Chinese quail eggs by falsely claiming them to be ``domestic.'' He is said to have denied the charges against him.
The documents sent to prosecutors were the 44-year-old president of a food-related company in Zushi City and the company as a corporation.
According to the police, in January last year, a jar of pickles made with quail eggs from China was falsely labeled as "domestic" on the label, and a total of four bottles were sold wholesale to a department store. There is a suspicion of violation of labeling laws.
According to the investigation, this company sells a variety of pickles made with locally grown vegetables, but there was information that the company was suspected of misrepresenting the country of origin, and the police were conducting a detailed investigation through an inspection agency.
As a result, it was determined that the quail eggs that were being sold at the time were produced in China.
The quail eggs used are commonly distributed in Japan, and there is no information on health hazards to date.
According to the investigation so far, the president has denied the charges.
Police are conducting a detailed investigation into the matter, suspecting that over an eight-month period up to February last year, around 50 quail eggs from China and Thailand were sold under false pretense that they were domestically produced.