Photo/Illutration A hotline for information about the false labeling of “asari” Japanese littleneck clams has been set up inside the Kumamoto prefectural government building in Kumamoto. (Hideki Ito)

Years ago, it was no secret that professional wrestlers often lied about where they came from.

Masashi Ozawa, a Japanese professional wrestler for New Japan Pro-Wrestling Co., was billed as being from Mongolia. He was told to fight a match in an overseas ring as a Mongolian wrestler, not as “Masashi Ozawa from Japan.”

To make him look Mongolian, Ozawa had his head almost entirely shaved with a small amount of hair left at the top, according to his autobiography. He also fought many bouts in Japan under the ring name of Killer Khan.

But Japanese professional wrestling fans knew that he was Masashi Ozawa. These fans enjoyed his performances fully aware of his true identity.

Unlike Ozawa’s story about his fake Mongolian persona, there is nothing funny about the scandal over the false place of origin labeling of “asari” Japanese littleneck clams that recently came to light.

The practice of labeling clams from South Korean and Chinese waters as having been “produced in Kumamoto” was rampant.

When the agriculture ministry conducted DNA testing on the contents of 31 packages of clams labeled as having been produced in Kumamoto Prefecture, it found that all but one of the packages contained clams that almost certainly originated in China or South Korea. This suggests the labeling fraud went totally unchecked.

Besides rewriting related documents, perpetrators also used such cheap tricks as putting clams into the sea in Kumamoto to claim that they are “products of Kumamoto.” The shady practice can be likened to money laundering--the illegal process of making ill-gotten money appear to have come from a legitimate source--and called “shellfish laundering.”

While consumers are becoming increasingly sensitive to food safety issues, there aren’t many means available for them to confirm the accuracy of food labeling at stores.

Many consumers rely on codes shown on food labels, such as the phrase “produced in Japan” or the names of producers, even though they don’t know how the foods are actually grown in Japan or what kind of people the producers are.

This attitude was taken advantage of by unscrupulous people who think these simple codes are enough to deceive consumers. The foundations on which our food consumption habits stand may be shakier than we believe.

--The Asahi Shimbun, Feb. 13

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Vox Populi, Vox Dei is a popular daily column that takes up a wide range of topics, including culture, arts and social trends and developments. Written by veteran Asahi Shimbun writers, the column provides useful perspectives on and insights into contemporary Japan and its culture.

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