Saizeriya Co., a restaurant chain offering low-cost Italian-style food, said Oct. 21 it will pay refunds to customers who ate its pizzas, after the made-in-China dough was found to be tainted with the industrial chemical melamine.

Saizeria President Yasuhiko Shogaki said the refunds will start going out Oct. 21 to customers regardless of if they have kept receipts for pizzas they purchased at Saizeria's 542 outlets in 15 prefectures in eastern Japan between Sept. 25 and Oct. 2.

Shogaki, who spoke at a news conference at Saizeriya's processing plant in Yamato, Kanagawa Prefecture, said he is "offering an apology for causing so much trouble to customers and all parties concerned, and for being late to take follow-up measures."