Marudai is recalling two kinds of cream buns, two varieties of meat buns and creamed corn crepes as a precaution because milk provided by the Yili Industrial Group Co. is among the products' ingredients.. -- PHOTO: AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
TOKYO - JAPANESE food maker Marudai Food Co. said on Saturday it is recalling five of its Chinese-made products that contain milk from a dairy company embroiled in a contaminated milk scandal.
Marudai is recalling two kinds of cream buns, two varieties of meat buns and creamed corn crepes as a precaution because milk provided by the Yili Industrial Group Co. is among the products' ingredients, the company said in a statement.
The recalled products were made in China's Shandong province by Qingdao Marudai Food Co. Ltd., a Marudai subsidiary, it said.
Tests last week on milk samples from Yili and Mengniu Dairy Group Co. - China's two largest dairy producers - along with Shanghai-based Bright Dairy revealed traces of melamine, a toxic chemical used in plastics.
Osaka-based Marudai said it was still investigating whether any of the products contained contaminated milk. The statement did not say how many items would be recalled.
'We have not received any reports of health problems, but we have decided to recall the products just to be safe,' Marudai said in the statement.
Phone calls to the company were not answered on Saturday.
The Health and Welfare Ministry will instruct quarantine officers and food manufacturers' associations to step up inspections of Chinese-produced foods to ensure they do not contain melamine, ministry official Mina Kojima said.
China's Sanlu Group also came under fire after melamine was discovered in its baby formula, which has been blamed for kidney disease and kidney stones in thousands of Chinese infants. At least four babies have died.
At least 10 Japanese were sickened in December and January after eating dumplings imported from China. -- AP
