In East Asia, purple bacteria rice has been used for centuries in food, alcoholic beverages, and folk medicine.
The incident broke out in March when the well-known Japanese firm called off three dietary supplement brands after customers complained of liver problems.
The authorities inspected the company’s facilities after it later reported that it had discovered a potentially dangerous acid created by the mold at one of its factories.
The firm announced last month that it was looking into a total of 80 deaths that may have been caused by its products and whether any other organs, besides organs, had been affected.
But at the time the government called Kobayashi Pharmaceutical’s delay in reporting the number of cases under inspection “extremely unfortunate”.
On Tuesday, the company’s board of directors said in a separate statement that they “pray for the hearts of those who died… and present condolences to the grieving people”.
The company’s new leader is Satoshi Yamane, recently head of sustainability plan, the company said.
Outgoing leader Akihiro Kobayashi, who has expressed his intention to take responsibility for any damage caused, will be in an executive position to handle compensation-related things, it added.
Red yeast wheat products from Kobayashi are regulated by a 2015 law under former top Shinzo Abe.
Some organizations have officially expressed concerns that these products ‘ rules is insufficiently strict and that they do not always have the desired results.