JAPAN: Tainted Rice Scam Shakes Consumer Confidence

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Catherine Makino

TOKYO, Sep 21 2008 (IPS) - Consumer confidence in quality-conscious Japan has been badly shaken by a scandal over contaminated rice that was discovered to have been imported and distributed to restaurants, hospitals, schools and stores.

Taking responsibility for the scandal agriculture minister Seiichi Ota and his deputy Toshiro Shirasu resigned last week. “As the tainted rice became a big social problem, I decided to take responsibility,” Ota told reporters on Friday.

Ota admitted that his ministry has long overlooked irregularities and, as a result, unrest has been sparked over food safety among consumers. ‘’We keenly feel the responsibility,” he said.

According to ministry officials the tainted rice, imported from China, Vietnam and the United States, was meant for industrial use such as in the making of glue.

Chief cabinet secretary Nobutaka Machimura said there were, so far, no reports of any adverse effects on health as the ‘’density of pesticides and mold is low’’. “But it is a serious problem that products unfit for consumption were eaten in hospitals.”

Despite the resignations, consumers are getting nervous and this is affecting how they purchase food products.

Kanako Nakayama, a librarian in Tokyo, is one of them. “I must be more careful about the food brands I buy. Before, I would buy cheap brands, but now I don’t mind buying expensive ones because my health is important. I do not trust the dealers, trading companies or the government, especially the farm ministry, anymore.”

Many people are known to have consumed the rice said to be contaminated with agricultural chemicals, pesticides, and carcinogenic mold. It was served as hot meals in hospitals, special nursing homes for the elderly, and nursery schools.

Much of the blame has fallen on Mikasa Foods Company which for 10 years has been buying contaminated imported rice from the government and then reselling it to various food companies. A criminal complaint has now been filed against the company.

A nationwide survey found that at least nine breweries used the tainted rice and have recalled a whopping one million bottles of ‘shochu’ (liquor). Asahi Breweries has recalled 650,000 bottles of shochu sold to supermarkets, restaurants, sand convenience stores from June 2008 onwards.

Confectionary companies have also recalled their products from shops around the country.

Mikasa Foods, based in Osaka, distributed the tainted rice to 370 firms in 24 prefectures for edible purposes. It was more than four times the number they originally said. They sold it to manufacturers of shochu, rice crackers and other processed foods, according to the government. The list also included 50 rice brokers, 154 sweets makers, 30 rice confectioneries, 10 breweries and five restaurant operators.

The list was slow in coming, but after mounting criticism that the ministry was putting the interests of businesses ahead of those of consumers, Ota ordered government officials to give the names of all concerned companies and facilities.

Mikasa allegedly bought 2,594 tonnes of tainted rice from the government and from trading houses. The pesticide contaminated stock included 800 tonnes of Chinese rice, 598 tonnes of Vietnamese rice and 95 tonnes were from other countries. Japan imports 60 percent of its food

Only a few months ago there was a media blitz when dozens of Japanese people became sick after they ate frozen dumplings, known as gyoza. The ‘pesticide-laced’ dumplings were imported from China. Last year, confectioners mislabelled the expiration dates on biscuits and rice cakes.

Nobuhiro Suzuki, an agricultural professor at the University of Tokyo, says “Japan must import 77,000 tonnes each year even though domestic demand is small. So, some may advocate that Japan decrease rice imports if there is not enough demand for it.”

Under an agreement with the World Trade Organisation (WTO) Japan is compelled to buy 770,000 tonnes of rice annually as part of commitments to meet minimum market access to exporting countries at the Uruguay Round of trade talks that ended in December 1993.

According to Tatsuya Kakita, author of many books on food safety, Mikasa Foods has been buying 25 percent tainted rice from the government for years. ‘’They buy it very cheap and then charge normal market prices.’’

He says Mikasa Foods is the perpetrator, but the ministry of agriculture, forests and fisheries (MAFF) is to blame, too. “MAFF is supposed to inspect and trace where the rice ends up, but they didn’t scrutinise it,” Kakita told IPS. “Mikasa Foods knew MAFF wouldn’t verify its papers, so it was the best business for them and the relationship grew between them.’’

“Rice is one of the major staples of the Japanese people and the pubic realises now that the government isn’t reliable,” he said. Distribution of contaminated rice is a violation of the Food Sanitation Law.

“Their (people’s) trust in the government is damaged,” Kakita told IPS. “We will have to see at what level consumers will be buying foods. It will depend on where this scandal leads to and if the government will take responsibility for this mess.”