350 fall ill from tainted food in Japan

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jan/07/tainted-food-japan-pesticide

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Japan's public broadcaster says more than 350 people have fallen ill across the country after eating frozen food products that may have been tainted with pesticide.

The foodmaker Maruha Nichiro began recalling 6.4m packages of frozen food on 29 December, saying it had found some products were tainted by high levels of pesticides. The company has received hundreds of thousands of calls about the problem.

The public broadcaster NHK said information from local governments showed 356 people had suffered vomiting, diarrhoea and other problems after eating items subject to the recall.

Maruha Nichiro says it has retrieved about 1.1m packages so far. Police are investigating how the products were contaminated with quantities of the pesticide malathion reportedly up to 2.6m times the allowable limit.

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