Police have arrested 3 men suspected of involvement in the illicit resale of more than 30,000 beef cutlets bound for the dump.
Two of the suspects are Kazuyuki Onishi, the head of Daiko, an industrial waste disposal firm in Aichi Prefecture, and Masao Okada, the former manager of Minori Foods in Gifu Prefecture.
In January, frozen cutlets scheduled for disposal were discovered in refrigerated cases at supermarkets in Aichi Prefecture.
Curry chain operator Ichibanya Company had commissioned Daiko to dump the cutlets. It feared inedible material had gotten into the meat.
Police investigated the distribution route and found that Onishi, who was not licensed to sell food, had apparently resold more than 36,000 of 40,000 rejected cutlets to Minori Foods for about one million yen, or 10,000 dollars.
Okada is suspected of deceiving a wholesaler he sold 200 cutlets to by saying that although the items were close to their expiration date, they were still good.
Police say Onishi has admitted to the allegations. They say Okada acknowledges selling the cutlets but insists he didn’t deceive anyone.
Police are also investigating whether Onishi defrauded the curry chain of disposal fees.
Source and image: NHK
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