Overview

• The Tokyo Red Cross Blood Center’s Tatsumi Supply Branch freezer lost power on May 11 due to a mismatched-voltage terminal block installed during last year’s upgrade, causing temperatures to exceed the –20 °C threshold for about 2.5 hours.
• About 13,700 fresh frozen plasma units—including 1,691 of 120 ml, 11,796 of 240 ml and 261 of 480 ml—were compromised, equal to roughly 1.2 percent of Japan’s annual FFP supply.
• The Japanese Red Cross redistributed alternative FFP stocks nationwide to maintain uninterrupted deliveries and will repurpose the unusable plasma into raw material for other blood products stored at higher temperatures.
• The Society reported the incident to the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare on June 10 after a month-long delay following a media inquiry, drawing scrutiny over slower reporting protocols.
• National authorities and the Japanese Red Cross are reviewing equipment management practices and reporting protocols to prevent similar outages in the future.