Japan's Warabeya shares drop after cockroach found in 7-Eleven rice balls

Warabeya Nichiyo Holdings

07/08/2023 08:49

TOKYO, Aug 7 (Reuters) - Japan's Warabeya Nichiyo
 2918.T  saw its shares lose more than 4% on Monday after the
food maker disclosed two instances of cockroaches being found
inside its rice that were sold at a 7-Eleven convenience store
last week.
    Warabeya Nichiyo said it had received two separate notices
that plum-flavoured rice balls made at a subsidiary's factory
and sold at a 7-Eleven convenience store in Saitama, north of
Tokyo, contained the pest.
    "We sincerely apologise for great inconvenience and
discomfort this has caused to our customers," the Tokyo-based
company said in a statement on Friday.
    Its stock ended down 4.4% after losing as much as 8.6% at
one point. The benchmark Nikkei 225 share average  .N225  closed
slightly up on the day. 
    Warabeya Nichiyo said it has recalled nearly 2,000 rice
balls made at the same factory and sold at 373 7-Eleven stores
on Thursday and Friday.
    The factory's production lines were shut down and sanitised,
it said.
    Shares of 7-Eleven owner Seven & i Holdings  3382.T  ended
roughly flat.

 (Reporting by Satoshi Sugiyama; Editing by Chang-Ran Kim and
Christopher Cushing)
 ((Satoshi.Sugiyama@thomsonreuters.com;))