ミニストップ 消費しょうひ期限きげんを偽いつわり表示ひょうじ 全国ぜんこく25にじゅうご店舗てんぽで不正ふせい行為こういを確認かくにん

The convenience store chain Ministop announced that, after conducting another investigation into the issue of falsifying expiration dates on items such as rice balls prepared in-store, fraudulent activities were confirmed at 25 locations nationwide.

Ministop revealed in August that, at 23 stores in seven prefectures including Tokyo and Osaka, they had falsified expiration dates by relabeling rice balls, bento boxes, and prepared foods made in-store with extended expiration dates, or by attaching labels showing expiration times several hours after production.

President Masatsugu Hotta announced at a press conference held on the 1st that similar misconduct was newly confirmed at two stores in Saitama and Fukuoka prefectures.

At the company, a new investigation was conducted on more than 1,700 stores nationwide by the end of August, and as a result, it was found that a total of 25 stores had committed fraud.

President Hotta said, This is a serious issue concerning food safety and security, and I have to admit that our awareness was insufficient.

We sincerely apologize for causing concern to our customers, he said.

On top of that, they will implement measures to prevent recurrence, such as newly appointing a quality control officer directly under the president, reviewing the standards for installing cameras in store kitchens, and further strengthening the internal reporting system.

On the other hand, regarding the in-store prepared rice balls and bento meals, which have been suspended at all stores, it was stated that at this point, we are not in a position to say when sales can resume, making it clear that there is no outlook for restarting sales.

Of these, at the Adachi Truck Terminal Store in Adachi Ward, staff from the Adachi Public Health Center visited the store and conducted an inspection on August 19th.

As a result, it was confirmed that there were cases where, after making rice balls in the store, the labels indicating the expiration date and other information were not immediately attached.

The store said, We were working on other tasks at the same time, and because we were busy, we ended up being late in putting on the labels.

I did not intentionally try to extend the expiration date, he explained.

Additionally, regarding the Kasai Truck Terminal store in Edogawa Ward, which was also found to have committed fraud related to expiration date labeling, the Edogawa Public Health Center conducted an on-site inspection on the 21st of last month.

According to the public health center, some of the rice balls made in-store at this location were not labeled with expiration dates or other information for a certain period of time.

Edogawa Public Health Center reportedly instructed this store to attach labels to rice balls immediately after they are made, in accordance with the companys manual.