Ishiya mislabeled chocolate, found E. coli in popsicles

The Sapporo-based sweets manufacturer Ishiya Chocolate Factory Co. deliberatedly mislabeled the expiration date on chocolate from their popular brand “Shiroi Koibito,” the company revealed on Tuesday. It was also revealed that bacteria had been found in Baumkuchen layered cakes and popsicles produced in the same factory.

Ishiya have now started recalling the products.

The company confessed that 4,328 chocolate boxes of Shiroi Koibito had been mislabeled in order to get rid of their backlog of products. The company claims it only found out about the mislabeling after it had received a supposedly anonymous e-mail about it.

While a expiration date is not legally required in Japan, the company apologized and announced they are re-calling the chocolate.

The company also revealed that Staphylococcus aureus bacteria had been found in Baumkuchen produced in the same factory as the Shiroi Koibito. While Ishiya has previously recalled 20 suspectedly infected Baumkuchen, they had been unable to confirm the safety of products sold before that, and will now recall those as well.

Thirdly, E. coli bacteria had been found in Ishiya’s “ice candy” popsicles, of which Ishiya so far has recalled 34,000.

The company will voluntarily freeze production for four days starting Thursday, but the Hokkaido Prefectural Government and the Sapporo Municipal Government said they were nonetheless considering imposing another punishment on the company.

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One response to “Ishiya mislabeled chocolate, found E. coli in popsicles”

Hokkaido - Rusutsu to Sapporo - (Day 5) « Random Tots, Jul 29 at 6:47 pm :

[…] Do not worry about the ban on its chocolates (for more regarding the ban, read here) .. it had been lifted. The compound is big with a nicely decorated garden and the flowers were in […]