Police search seafood companies over false labeling of eel products

KOBE (Kyodo) Police raided two seafood companies Thursday to investigate a false-labeling scam in which the firms allegedly passed off grilled eel farmed in China as having been raised in Japan. Bode eel: Police investigators remove boxes Thursday from Shinko Gyorui Ltd. in Kobe as evidence for an alleged false-labeling case involving eels imported from China. KYODO PHOTO The search targeted the business office of Osaka-based seafood importer Uohide and the headquarters of Kobe-based wholesaler Shinko Gyorui Ltd., a subsidiary of Maruha Nichiro Holdings Inc., a top seafood company listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. The two companies are suspected of having sold some 3,600 kg of falsely labeled grilled eel to three intermediate wholesalers between April 15 and June 13 in violation of the Unfair Competition Prevention Law,... [read full story]