InsideJapan News Network

Japan, China and South Korea have agreed to work together to try and reduce the risk of people getting ill from eating contaminated food, it has been announced.

Following an incident which saw ten people in Japan fall ill after eating frozen dumplings - made in China - that had been accidentally tainted with pesticide, health ministers from the three nations have pledged to work jointly to prevent such incidents in the future.

Under the agreement, if any of the countries have a problem with food safety, they must tell the other two nations and keep them informed of investigations into the problem.

As well as agreeing to co-operate over food safety, Japan, South Korea and China also said they would work together to try and prevent the spread of the swine flu virus throughout the three countries.

Previously, the Japanese prime minster Yukio Hatoyama said that improving relations with other Asian countries is a priority for his government.

Written by Graham McPherson.


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