E. Java police reopen taste enhancer factory

E. Java police reopen taste enhancer factory

SURABAYA (JP): After being inoperative for one week, East Java
Police discreetly lifted a closure order at the factory belonging
to controversial taste enhancer producers PT Ajinomoto in
Mojokerto, East Java, on Thursday afternoon.

The restriction was lifted at around 6 p.m. without prior
notification being given to factory management, and performed
after all employees had left the premises.

"The reversal of the closure does not mean that the legal
proceedings against the four suspects will stop," Head of the
East Java Police Detectives Chief Comr. Bambang Hendarso Danuri
said on Friday.

All of the 1,500 employees in Mojokerto continued to go to
work despite the factory having been sealed for nearly one week.
No production has taken place.

Along with the factory's reopening, four suspects in the
Ajinomoto case have also had their detention postponed. The
suspects include technical director Yosuko Koyama, factory
manager Hary Saksono, quality control manager Haryono and
production manager Hartono.

"They were all released at midnight (Thursday) with a
guarantee from the Japan Consulate General officer in Surabaya,
N. Nomura," officer Bambang said, while adding that the release
was not connected with President Abdurrahman Wahid's remark on
Tuesday that Ajinomoto's monosodium glutamate (MSG) product is
"halal" (allowable for consumption by Muslims).

The popular taste enhancer has been recalled from shelves
across the country after the Indonesian Ulemas Council (MUI)
questioned its production process which used an extract derived
from pigs to develop an enzyme required to create MSG.

Temporary reports stated that over 1,000 tons of Ajinomoto's
MSG have been withdrawn from the market and placed at the
company's warehouse in Mojokerto.

"We are still calculating the amount (of Ajinomoto's product)
since every day more packages are pouring into the warehouse. The
same thing also goes for the Masako and Sajiku taste enhancer,"
Susetyanto, of the company's General Affairs Department, said on
Friday.

"We will have the final calculations on Monday as we have to
coordinate this with the company's field officials and the
police," he said.

The company has reportedly produced 10,000 tons of MSG using
the pig enzyme. As many as 3,000 tons were distributed
domestically, while the remaining 7,000 tons were exported.

Ajinomoto has been given three weeks from Jan. 3 to withdraw
all of its MSG products from the market.

"We're trying our best to meet the deadline as we do not want
to create further discord among the public," Susetyanto said.

Separately, City Police Chief Insp. Gen. Mulyono Sulaiman said
on Friday that police had released the three suspects of the
Ajinomoto case who were in city police custody.

"They are, however, still suspects, and may be questioned
again over the case, when the need arises. They were released
late Thursday night," Mulyono told a media conference on Friday.

He identified the suspects as president of PT Ajinomoto
Indonesia, Mitsuo Oda Arakawa, the firm's general manager Cokorda
Bagus Sudarta and its senior manager Yusi Purba.

"We released them because, for now, they have answered all of
our questions and were very cooperative. Should we need them
again, we'll summon them. Besides, they are not directly linked
to the factory which produces the seasoning in Mojokerto, East
Java," Mulyono said. (edt/nur/ylt)