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More sewing needles were found in packs of oden sold by supermarkets in Chiba Prefecture over the weekend, bringing the total number of incidents to five after three similar cases were reported late last month, police said Monday.
Police at West Chiba police station received a call at about 6 p.m. Sunday from a supermarket in Mihama Ward of Chiba City, with staff saying two needles were found in oden packs they sold on Saturday. Police at Funabashi police station received a call just after 8.30 p.m. from a supermarket in Funabashi City, with staff there saying one needle had been found in an oden pack they had sold earlier in the day. No one was injured by any of the needles, police said.
Three similar incidents were reported by supermarkets in Mihama Ward between Dec 23 and Dec 29, with the oden being made by the same company. A small hole was found pierced in each of the packs, police said.
© News reports
13 Comments
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mnemosyne23
Oops! It cut off the rest of my message!
I also said that police should investigate the plant where the oden is packaged. This might be a case of a disgruntled employee taking out his or her frustration on their employer by lacing oden packages with needles. The packages are then delivered to different stores, leading folks to believe that it's a customer who is sticking needles in with the noodles.
mnemosyne23
chotto: It's going to sound ridiculous, but I couldn't help reading your comment as an unintentional pun on the subject matter of the story. Unless it was an intentional pun, in which case bravo!
mnemosyne23 <-- loves puns altogether too much
Moving on.
I'd be inclined to say that this is being perpetrated by a consumer who is pushing the needles into the oden packages once they're on the store shelves, but I wonder about the employees at the packing plant, too. Check out the poor schlubs on the assembly line; one of them might have a grudge over a missed promotion, denied raise, what have you, and is taking out his or her frustration by lacing packages of product with needles.
chotto
smithinjapan at 12:41 PM JST - 4th January
What's your point?
Disillusioned
This sounds like a teenage prank. The cops should be looking for someone in their 30's.
bdiego
With over a hundred million people, there are always going to be thousands who will do stuff like this. Only a handful make the news.
biglittleman
Sometimes folks are just angry. People in Japan don't have proper support systems and people act out. Plain and simple.
nandakandamanda
Same old, same old. Someone has a grudge against the company. They decide to hit where it hurts, in the sales department. People stop buying. Contact is made and a sum of cash is handed over behind the scenes. End of round one. Simple.
XXXXX
Needles in breads, train seats, oden. Jstyle voodoo. I'm safe bcoz I hate oden. Weren't the packs leaking? Consumers are too trusting, they don't inspect the goods properly, exp dates, etc.
IvanCoughalot
Not worth eating the stuff at the best of times.
Okinawamike
If and when the guilty party is caught, a month of Chiba bought oden packs for dinner every night!
some14some
...but were not reported here on JT web. Now since it is published the culprit will stop this harassment, may he wanted some publicity.
smithinjapan
Sewing needles??
Shouldn't be too hard to narrow down.