Why are food scandals surfacing one after another and what can be done about it?

What can be done about it? I'm going to shrug my shoulders. Maybe someone else will deal with it. I've got enough confrontation in my life as it is.

Why? Because food companies selfishly put their profits ahead of public safety. This applies to companies everywhere

What can be done about it? For a start, punishments that go beyond a fake apology and some crocodile tears, like lengthy prison sentences.

Ag. Ministry come forward and 'have your say' since you definitely have all the answers, if not, Aso should abolish this wing of his admn. Next step? Privatize food industry with adequate safety measures and impose severe punishment for violation of safety regulations. Sounds practical? No, it will result in huge loss of 'private income' for LDP.

I imagine they're surfacing because some piece of government legislation that has been in the statute books for decades is finally being enforced and teams of officers are now checking the quality of food, as they should have been doing for decades. These media feeding frenzies are nearly always the result of a change in policy implementation. It's always easier to focus on the seemingly new scandal than the years and years of previous bad practice. What can we do about it? Not much - it's not actually that big a threat to health. Food has always been tainted in some way for the entirety of human existence. It's only in the last hundred years or so that people have lived long enough to be killed by tainted or poorly chosen diet (as opposed to lack of it - even scurvy was mostly through lack of choice rather than bad choice).

What can be done about it? For a start, punishments that go beyond a fake apology and some crocodile tears, like lengthy prison sentences.

So, so true!

It's time for the government to grow some melon balls and start punishing those companies/CEOs that put profit before public safety. This has been going on for so long because the companies knew that they could get away with it. Until now. Unfortunately, companies are tightening their ships for all the wrong reasons...punishment. And not for the right reasons...moral obligation. If given the opportunity to deceive again, most likely the majority of companies would take it.

S

less bowing, more prison time

Why? Greed. What can be done? Apply same statndards to domestic companies as foreign ones. One slip up no more business in Japan, and a nice long stay in the slammer for the top execs.

Why? who knows. who cares.

What to do? Remember who messes up, and don't buy their stuff.

Maybe some grocer might get the bright idea of listing all suspected food makers, in a service to the consumer, in hopes of drumming up more business.

Economy is going down the toilet. Business climate becoming as difficult as a humid summer. Can't compete fairly, so lie. Lie until you're caught, and then bow hands and knees to the floor. Get up, and start doing it again when someone else is bowing.

hey - you can do the CRIME here in japan because the TIME is almost always suspended for these corporte/political/police/bureacrats, etc. it is horrible that these people are not given adaquate punishment. just do the bow.

I think Japan is just simply not prepared for it. Before the war I think it would be fair to say that Japan was hardly a democracy with all the things that democracy supposedly entails. After the war there was a major effort to rebuild Japan as an economic power. The Japanese constitution was forced on it by the Occupation forces.

After that it seems that the attempts to build a legal system that would be developed alongside with industry and social changes in Japan have been lacking (e.g. look at how court cases like minatobyo, itai itai, hibakusha have been allowed to linger (even something comparatively small in comparison like the students -vs- NOVA)).

Any attempts by authorities to make changes have been half-hearted to say the least, as they are very often influenced by lobby groups who are out to protect their own interests(e.g. bureacrats).

I honestly think that the lack of development in a well-meaning legal system to cope with modern times has allowed people (food and environmental scandals) like this to flourish.

Because in Japan you can just saw you're sorry and continue, there is no punishment in Japan for business', just bow say sorry and do something else illegal until you are discovered.

*say

JT needs a 5 min edit function

Food scandals have been surfacing for many years. Why?

1 - The government doesn't care.

2 - The government doesn't care.

3 - The government doesn't care.

And that's why.

PS - China is dangerous!!!!

You can put any fried mystery meat in a combini bento ( east meats west ) with assorted "oishii so" chunklets of dubious content and origin and the huddled harried masses will masticate on demand. What's really in it? Who cares as long as the trains run on time. The only safe way to eat is to grow it and know it, kill it and grill it. Anything beyond that is simply food for thought.

There are a number of factors. These include more inspection and better methods of detection that result in the discovery of instances of contamination that previously would not have been discovered in the absence of a large outbreak of illness caused by the contamination. An increase in the frequency of contamination, caused in significant part by intense competition in China that drives down profit margins and thus increases the benefits of adulterating food or avoiding processing steps that would rinse off pesticides and other chemicals, is another factor.

Stiffer penalties is one way to deal with it. Another way is for consumers to insist on knowing where food comes from and what's in it. Also, more inspection and testing. And, of course, publicity that enables consumers to know what companies are producing, importing and/or selling contaminated food.

Difficult to surface after being poisoned.

A very old criminal practice, rounding them up and serving gyoza won't get rid of the problem either. Severe financial penalties, complete media exposure, etc.

I agree with taikan. It seems that the number of inspections and far better technology has contributed to higher detection rates in tainted foods. Which brings up another question: How safe is safe?

There are many common sense solutions as to what CAN be done but the crux of the problem is what WILL be done, which is nothing. The companies will continue to cut corners, putting profits ahead of safety because the know they can get away with it with enough political donations. The politicians don't do anything because they know that no matter how much they line their pockets, the people will still keep them in office. Nothing will happen until people shelve the "shoganai" mentality and actually take an interest in their country. Unfortunately, as Kimigano pointed out, it's easier to point out someone else's flaws than it is to address your own.

Taka