TOKYO (AP) -- Pesticide-laced Chinese dumplings that sickened at least 10 people in Japan and triggered a nationwide scare were probably poisoned deliberately, Japan's health minister said Tuesday.

The frozen dumplings, produced by China's Tianyang Food Processing Ltd., were contaminated with the pesticide methamidophos and blamed for a string of poisonings in December and January.

Investigators, however, have found traces of the pesticide on the outside of the dumplings, rather than on the filling. The poison was also found in much higher concentrations than would be expected from residue from pesticides sprayed on vegetables.

Health Minister Yoichi Masuzoe said that pointed to deliberate poisoning, rather than accidental contamination.

"Judging from the circumstantial evidence, we'd have to think that it's highly likely to be a crime," he said. "That means we must let police investigate, and I hope the case would be resolved through our cooperation with China."

As Masuzoe spoke, a Japanese government delegation started an investigation in China, where they were meeting with their counterparts. The group plans to visit the dumpling factory where the food was produced.

About 20 top police investigators from the areas where the poisonings took place gathered in Tokyo on Tuesday to discuss the dumpling probe, and police in the two prefectures Chiba and Hyogo -- the home of the 10 victims -- are now looking into the dumpling contamination as an attempted murder case.

Tsuyoshi Yoneda, head of the Criminal Affairs Bureau at the National Police Agency, said at the meeting that the case is a "serious threat to the food safety in our country."

"We are facing an extremely serious case," he said.

The contamination set off a nationwide scare last week and over the weekend. In addition to the 10 confirmed victims, more than 1,200 people have reported becoming ill after eating Tianyang products, though no link with the pesticide in the additional cases has been proven.

Authorities have ordered the recall of millions of bags of dumplings and other foods made by Tianyang, while many stores and restaurants in Japan have stopped offering Chinese products altogether.

Traces of the insecticide were found in the dumplings, on the packaging and in the vomit of the 10 people who were sickened. Investigators in western Japan also found traces on six bags of the dumplings recalled over the weekend.

Punctures were found in a handful of the bags that were recalled or tied to poisonings.

China's product safety agency conducted tests on the ingredients of Tianyang dumplings from the same batch sent to Japan, but found none of the insecticide cited by Japanese authorities.

Some Japanese officials urged caution against jumping to conclusions about the source of the contamination.

Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura said hasty remarks could easily damage fragile bilateral relations with China, which have improved since 2006 after years of tensions.

"We should stay calm at least on the government level in order to pursue our investigation," Komura said.

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Pesticide regulations for developing countries
written by Ahmad Mahdavi , February 10, 2008

Dear Sir/ Madam,
The message is clear, please help the important issue of pesticide regulations for developing countries. All public community, sprayer workers and also export/ import industry are sufering from lack of regulations for pesticides/ chemicals in developing countries. Japanese government in particular should give help/ support for this important issue, please see my message below:

Pesticides have a dilemma nature and because of this nature to use them safely there must be done lots of research and there should exist lots of laws and regulations and enforcement, now let say that this is followed correctly in developed countries where the industry exists but the story and scenario is quiet different in developing countries. In most of these developing countries there are no research/ regulations or if there is it is not followed / enforced absolutely and this is the problem and because it deals with the life of people and health of the environment it is a real big problem. When it comes to spraying technology and worker protection it is never practiced by ordinary farmers in these countries. These are my personal experiences/ observations during more than 35 years being involved in pesticide science work. Living more than 15 years in Mazandaran, Golastan and Gillan the three beautiful Northern Provinces of Iran by the Caspian Sea I observed so many cases of pesticide intoxication. This is because people do their spraying without any protective clothing, most of times with bare foot and body because of hot weather and with any type of spraying equipment that they can find and they use lots of pesticides in their rice paddies, cotton fields and citrus orchards etc.
So as a result where there is no scientific research and laws and regulations as in developing countries then most use of pesticides should stop because no rules are followed

With best regards,
Ahmad Mahdavi,
PhD, pesticide environmental toxicologist,
Guelph, Ont.

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