Thursday, August 16, 2007 7:06 pm | 
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"Shiroi Koibito" chocolate. | Photo: (c) Ishiya Co. |
Hokkaido chocolatier’s mislabeling went on for 10 years
Sapporo-based confectioner Ishiya routinely falsified expiration dates for their popular Hokkaido souvenir chocolate “Shiroi Koibito” for 10 years with the consent of the company president, the company revealed at a press conference on Thursday, two days after the company suggested only one batch of 4,328 chocolate boxes had been forged, and revealed bacterias leading to food poisoning had been found in other Ishiya products.
Ishiya CEO Isao Ishimizu announced the company would recall all its products and extend the four days of voluntarily frozen production the company had announced on Tuesday. Reports say however that Sapporo City department stores and Hokkaido airport Chitose had already started removing all Ishiya products from their shelves since Tuesday.
Ishiya had falsified expiration dates since 1997, whenever the backlog grew large, according to Ishimizu.
So far, 25,000 boxes of Shiroi Koibito have been returned to the company, with an additional 15 - 25 thousand boxes recently shipped.
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