Man stands trial over poisoned dumplings

SHIJIAZHUANG - A court in North China's Hebei province on Tuesday opened a trial for a man who allegedly added poison to frozen dumplings that sickened 10 people in Japan in 2008.

The Shijiazhuang Intermediate People's Court began the hearing at 9 am Tuesday.

In January 2008, Japanese media reported that 10 people fell ill after consuming frozen meat dumplings produced by the Tianyang Food Plant based in Shijiazhuang, capital of Hebei.

But tests showed that the remaining dumplings from the same batch that was sent to Japan, as well as other batches produced by the company around the same time, were safe, according to Chinese quality inspectors.

The plant was investigated by both Chinese and Japanese authorities shortly after the incident, but no problems were found.

In March 2010, suspect Lv Yueting was detained by Chinese police. Lv worked in the factory between April 1993 and October 2009.

Lv, born in 1974, confessed to injecting pesticide into frozen dumplings when he worked in the plant, the municipal procuratorate of Shijiazhuang said.

Lv said he poisoned the dumplings because he was dissatisfied with his salary and did not get along with some of his co-workers, the procuratorate said.