Japanese supermarkets in Tokyo late last week detected three times the permitted level of the pesticide Dicofol in eel from China's Guangdong province. The product has been cleared from shelves.
The organochlorine pesticide, which is chemically related to DDT, was found in a 1,500-kilogram shipment of eel from a Guangdong company, according to the Jiangsu fishery Web site, www.jsof.gov.cn.
China is Japan's No. 1 eel supplier. The case again raises questions about China's spotty food-safety record.
Guangdong is one of China's top two exporting provinces, with one city alone, Shunde, producing one-fifth of the country's exports worth USD 323 million (EUR 253 million), and any hint of its products again failing to meet health and safety standards could be detrimental.
