Yamazaki Baking Co., the country's top bakery, recently began recalling its dessert products, after receiving complaints of moldy bread. Customer discontent also spurred the recall of some 70,000 cases of Kirin Speed sports drink. Morinaga Milk Industry, the third-largest dairy supplier, temporarily closed a production line when 20 children got sick drinking its milk. But nobody bungled its crisis more than Snow Brand. Eventually, the source of the problem was traced to bacteria in a production valve at a Snow milk plant in Osaka.
Authorities charge that factory equipment was clogged with congealed milk and toxic bacteria.
Snow Brand president Ishikawa Tetsuro, reacting in the traditional fashion, said the incident would not affect business adversely, only to be embarrassed when a plant manager rose up and complained about the patch of contaminated milk. More unsanitary practices were revealed over the following days, and soon Ishikawa and three other executives were bowing before the cameras after tendering their resignations. Many of Japan's corporations, operating for decades with no major problems, have become complacent. Most Japanese business executives advance because of their seniority rather than their competence. It was obvious that Snow Brand had neither operational nor public relations control at the initial stages of the food poisoning.