The Japanese government has filed a criminal complaint against an official of Snow Brand, the food company involved in a widening beef-labelling scandal.

Police are expected to launch an investigation in the next few days.

Last week, a Snow Brand subsidiary admitted that it had labelled 30 tons of Australian beef as Japanese, in order to qualify for compensation relating to the disease BSE.

Snow Brand's president, Shozo Yoshida, has resigned over the scandal.

The ministry complaint is against Tetsuaki Sugawara, head of the company's Kansai Meat Centre in Hyogo.

The deception relates to a Japanese government programme to buy home-produced beef for destruction, in order to prevent infected meat getting onto the market.