China admits it is source of poisoned food

TOKYO, Aug. 31 (UPI) -- Chinese authorities have determined a toxic pesticide was mixed into gyoza before the dumplings were exported, Japanese sources say.

This is the first time the Chinese have officially admitted the food poisoning was domestic in origin rather than from Japan where impacts from the contamination were first seen, The Yomiuri Shimbun reported Sunday.

Japanese Foreign Ministry officials reportedly were told by the Chinese Thursday that the gyoza dumplings in question came from Tianyang Food, the Chinese manufacturer linked to the Japanese poisonings last January.

Initially, Chinese officials denied the methamidophos pesticide found in the gyoza could have been mixed into the product in China. However, just before the July Group of Eight summit meeting, Beijing acknowledged that some people in China had suffered pesticide poisoning after eating frozen gyoza made by the same Chinese firm that had earlier recalled its Japanese products.