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full screen The Kobayashi company’s CEO Akihiro Kobayashi bows apologetically at a press conference on Friday. Photo: Kyodo News Via AP/TT
Several deaths and around a hundred cases of illness in Japan are linked to a dietary supplement – a red rice – that has recently been recalled from stores.
A week ago, the major company Kobayashi recalled three kinds of products with beni koji, a fermented red rice that is marketed as an over-the-counter and cholesterol-lowering dietary supplement.
Since then, five people who have consumed the supplement have died from kidney problems and more than 110 people have been hospitalized.
The company announces that it is investigating whether it is the rice that has caused the deaths. The incident has caused a lot of attention in Japan, where Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has come out and announced that the government will take all possible measures to prevent something like this from happening again – if it turns out that the supplement has been life-threatening.
According to reports, the company must have become aware of suspected problems with the product already in January.
– I deeply regret the great fear and concern we have caused, said the company’s CEO Akihiro Kobayashi at a press conference on Friday.
The fermented red rice, with the product name “Beni Koji Choleste Help”, has been supplied to about 50 companies in Japan and some in Taiwan. In Taiwan, reports of deaths have prompted authorities to temporarily halt sales of more than 150 similar products.