A Miyazaki-based syrup maker has for years been repackaging and reshipping snow cone syrup that had been returned due to defective cartons after reheating it and attaching new use-by dates, the company's president said Feb. 4.

"We feel very sorry for consumers and will stop shipping reheated syrup," Honey Co. President Shunsaku Misao said.

The company has been putting labels with two-year use-by dates on syrup collected several months or a year after they were first shipped.

The practice started on a daily basis around 1980 when the syrup started being packaged in cartons instead of bottles, the company said.