Japan Tobacco and Nissin Food Products said on Wednesday they would call off a planned merger of their frozen food businesses, Reuters reports.

The announcement followed a food scare involving contaminated dumplings imported from China by Japan Tobacco. Chinese-made dumplings contaminated with pesticide have made 10 Japanese sick and sparked a food scare. Police have set up a joint task force to investigate the case on suspicion of attempted murder.
In November 2007, Japan Tobacco and instant noodle maker, Nissin Food Products, announced that they had teamed up to acquire Katokichi, a frozen food company. The scrapping of the deal, which would have created the nation’s leading frozen food manufacturer, arose after Nissin proposed taking control of the planned company instead of Japan Tobacco.
Japan Tobacco has already bought 94 per cent of Katokichi and plans to make it a wholly owned unit as soon as possible. (pi)