Snow Brand Food boss quits, shares tumble


Snow Brand Food president Shozo Yoshida stepped down on Tuesday night

TOKYO, Japan (CNN) -- Shares in Japanese meat packer Snow Brand Food Co fell more than 5 percent Wednesday morning after its president Shozo Yoshida said he would step down to accept responsibility for a meat packaging scandal.

The shares traded at 53 yen near midday, after dropping as low as 50 yen. That compares with a one-year high of 216 yen in June last year.

Yoshida said at a press conference in Tokyo Tuesday night he had resigned. He said six board members would also step down after a shareholders meeting in June.

The company's new president is Koshiro Iwase.

Last week Snow Brand Food admitted to falsely labelling Australian beef as domestic meat to take advantage of a government buy-back scheme intended to help local industry struggling with the outbreak of mad cow disease.

Domestic beef involved

On Tuesday, Japan's sixth-largest meat packer admitted it had also mislabelled domestic beef.

The Nihon Keizai business daily reported Wednesday that police in Hyogo prefecture would search Snow Brand Food offices as the scandal widens.

The Agriculture Ministry said it was filing a criminal complaint against Snow Brand Food for fraud, spurred by escalating public anger over the scandal, Reuters reported.

The company said Monday it would suspend the production and sale of beef, pork and poultry.

It also said it might have to revise down its full-year earnings forecasts. It has already warned of a full-year group loss of 2.63 billion yen ($19.67 million).

Shares in parent company Snow Brand Milk Products also fell Wednesday, down 3.65 percent to 132 yen.

Snow Brand Milk is still trying to recover from a milk poisoning scandal that left more than 10,000 people ill two years ago.