Prosecutors in Maebashi, Japan, on July 25 asked that the former Aqlifoods Co. worker who admitted to lacing frozen food with pesticide at a factory in Oizumi, Gunma Prefecture (northwest of Tokyo) last year be sentenced to a 4½-year prison term. While no fatalities resulted, as many as 3,000 persons may have been sickened and consumer confidence in frozen food was negatively affected for some time.
Toshiki Abe, 49, pled guilty last month to spraying the pesticide malathion on 22 products between October 3 and November 5, 2013, forcing the plant to suspend operations. It is scheduled to partially resume production in August.
According to prosecutors, Abe’s motive for the action was to obstruct business for his employer because of dissatisfaction with the amount of money he was paid and the way he was being treated.
Abe worked at the plant’s pizza production line on a contractual basis. He was a member of a four-person team that typically operated the crust section in which pizza dough was made and baked.
Recalls of more than 6.3 million packages containing 90 different products distributed from two plants took place. The fallout prompted executives from both Aqlifoods and its parent company, Maruha Nichiro Holdings Inc. to resign their positions.
