Japan says Nissui crab product ‘misleading’

Japan’s Fair Trade Commission last week ordered seafood conglomerate Nippon Suisan Kaisha (Nissui) to cease mislabeling ingredients in its products after its frozen crab croquettes were found to violate labeling laws.

The Tokyo-based company was also warned to improve its practices by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries for breaching Japan Agricultural Standards, according to a report in the Mainichi Daily News.

Nissui listed Zuwaigani (queen crab) in the list of ingredients for its Zuwaigani croquettes. The product actually contained red tanner crab, which costs about one-eighth as much as queen crab, which authorities said is a violation of the Act against Unjustifiable Premiums and Misleading Representations.

Nissui sold approximately 850,000 packages of the croquettes between April 2007 and February 2009. Packages of six croquettes sold for approximately JPY 300 (USD 3.13; EUR 2.26) at retail stores across Japan.

"Both crabs are categorized in the same group, so we thought there would be no problem," a Nissui official told the newspaper. "We apologize for any trouble. We will enforce our management system to prevent a recurrence of this sort of problem in the future."

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