ミニストップ 複数ふくすう店舗てんぽで不適切ふてきせつ表示ひょうじ 保健所ほけんじょが立たち入いり検査けんさも

At some stores of the convenience store chain Ministop, there was an issue with inappropriate expiration date labeling on in-store prepared items such as rice balls. It has been revealed that a store in Kawanishi City, Hyogo Prefecture explained to the public health center that they felt it was wasteful to discard the items and had been doing this for about a year and a half or two years.

At the convenience store chain Ministop, there have been cases confirmed at 23 stores in seven prefectures where rice balls, bento boxes, and side dishes prepared in-store were first placed on the sales floor, and then their expiration date labels were replaced with ones showing a later date, or labels displaying the expiration date were attached several hours after the items were made.

Hyogo Kawanishi City stores: “Wasteful to discard, since about a year and a half or two years ago.” According to the prefectural health center that has jurisdiction over Kawanishi City, Hyogo Prefecture, the company reported in late June this year that, while conducting inspections, they found that expiration date labels had been replaced at two stores: “Kawanishi Nishitada Store” and “Kawanishi Mino 2-chome Store.”

In response to this, the public health center conducted an on-site inspection on July 1st and confirmed that the owner had placed altered labels over the original ones on rice balls whose expiration dates were approaching and displayed them in the store. It was also confirmed that some employees had engaged in similar actions.

The owner explained, I felt it was a waste to discard them, so I had been layering the labels for about a year and a half or two years. Accordingly, the public health center instructed them to promptly implement measures to prevent a recurrence.

The store in Kyoto City: Since around April last year, with the aim of reducing food loss. According to the Kyoto City Health Center, after being contacted by the company, an on-site inspection was conducted on August 13 at the Arashiyama Ekimae Store in Nishikyo Ward, Kyoto City.

The store explained that since around April last year, inappropriate labeling had been carried out with the aim of reducing food loss, and the public health center instructed them to promptly implement measures to prevent recurrence.

In Kyoto Prefecture, it has been explained to the relevant public health centers that both the Kumiyama-cho Tai Store in Kumiyama Town and the Tanabe Chuo Store in Kyotanabe City have been doing this for several years, and on this basis, on-site inspections are planned to be conducted in the future.

A store in Fukuoka City was found to be labeling food with expiration dates 1 to 3 hours after cooking. It was also revealed that a public health center inspection was conducted on August 19 at a store located in Higashi Ward, Fukuoka City.

According to the Fukuoka City Health Center, the on-site inspection was conducted at the Fukuoka Hatta 1-chome Store.

On the 19th, after a public health center staff visited the shop and interviewed about the cooking process, it was found that for the rice balls prepared in the store, labels showing the expiration date were attached 1 to 3 hours after cooking.

It has been confirmed that there were no instances of products with displayed expiration dates being relabeled with extended dates after being placed on the sales floor.

In Tokyo, there are two stores. The Edogawa Public Health Center will conduct an on-site inspection within this week. It has been reported that at two stores in Tokyo—one in Edogawa Ward and one in Adachi Ward—there were actions that deviated from the rules for product manufacturing.

According to the Edogawa Public Health Center in Edogawa Ward, last week, they received a notification from the headquarters of Ministop stating that there was an error in the expiration date displayed on their products.

In response to this, the public health center plans to conduct an on-site inspection at the Kasai Truck Terminal Store within the ward sometime this week.

They said they will check how the products were prepared in the store and review the manufacturing process before considering how to respond in the future.

Ministop: We sincerely apologize. According to the company, there have been no reports of health issues so far.

Ministop sincerely apologizes for the great inconvenience caused to our customers.

We will continue to provide safer and more reliable products together with our franchise stores and headquarters, they commented.