Saizeriya staff to visit China over melamine-tainted pizza case+

SAITAMA, Japan, Oct. 22 Kyodo - Italian family restaurant chain operator Saizeriya Co. said Wednesday it will send two senior officials to the Chinese province of Guangdong from Monday to
investigate how the industrial chemical melamine came to be found in its pizzas.

The officials will visit several places during their three-day visit, including
a factory of Jincheng Quick-Frozen Food Co., the Chinese food maker in Foshan
that produced the melamine-laced dough used in the pizzas.
They will investigate where the Chinese firm obtained whole milk powder -- the
ingredient believed to have contained melamine -- and how Foshan authorities
came to issue a certificate showing that the dough was free of the chemical,
the Japanese chain operator said.
According to Saizeriya, the certificate the Foshan authorities issued in
September concerned pizza dough produced Aug. 5-6. A Japanese inspection agency
found a small amount of melamine in dough produced Aug. 9.
The chain operator, based in Yoshikawa, Saitama Prefecture, has consigned the
production of its pizza dough to Jincheng Quick-Frozen Food since the spring of
2007.