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Poisoned rice sold at markets

To prevent cadmium pollution, many rice farmers in Changhua County's Homei township have irrigated their fields with underground water. PHOTO: TSAI WEN-CHENG, TAIPEI TIMES

The Council of Agriculture (COA) yesterday confirmed that rice from two farms in Yunlin County (雲林縣) had been contaminated with cadmium.

An official from the COA said that the council had taken custody of all of the rice from one of the farms for further investigation and was trying to track down 800kg of rice from the other farm, which was sold after being dried at a rice-drying factory.

On June 1, the COA conducted a random test of rice in Huwei (虎尾), Yunlin County where they found two farms where officials suspected that the rice had been contaminated with cadmium.

Cadmium is a heavy metal used in electroplating and the making of industrial paints as well as nickel-cadmium batteries, which were often used in cell phones until lithium ion batteries replaced them in most models.

According to the COA, one of the polluted sites, called "680, Chuwei Tzu Section" (竹圍子段680號), is an area of 0.19 hectares in which the contamination measured 0.85mg/kg. The other is called "830, Peiping Section" (北平段830號), an area of 0.15 hectares in which the cadmium levels measured 0.7mg/kg.

The legally acceptable contamination level is 0.5mg/kg.

According to findings by the COA, the rice from Chuwei Tzu Section was sold to the Yu-ming Rice-Husking Mill (玉明碾米廠) in Huwei. The COA has kept this rice in its custody for further tests.

A COA official said that rice from Peiping Section was shipped to the Lin Chih-chun Rice-Drying Center (林志俊烘乾中心) before being sold.

The COA office in central Taiwan tried to intercept the contaminated rice and to keep it away from public markets, but the 800kg from Peiping Section had already been sold and transported to its buyers, wholesalers who supply restaurants and retail outlets.

"We have asked Yunlin County Government to track down this rice. We need to get it back and destroy it," said Huang Yo-tsai (黃有才), the director of the COA's Food and Agriculture Department.

Managers of a dye-stuff factory close to the two contaminated sites are being questioned by Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) officials. The officials are trying to establish the source of the contamination.

The factory has existed for more than 30 years but this is the first time that the COA has found anything wrong with farm produce from the area.

The Taiwan Water Supply Corp has also conducted an investigation in this area. According to its Huwei office, the nearest reservoir is underground, 300m deep and 2km away from the contaminated sites, so the water should be completely uncontaminated by any possible leakage from the site.

The COA has also asked the Yunlin County Government to help destroy all the plants on these two polluted sites to avoid further pollution.

The COA has asked the farmers concerned to stop plowing the two contaminated fields.

"The EPA will compensate the farmers according to the value of the contaminated produce," said Huang.

"As for us, we'll pay NT$54,000 per hectare to the farmers who cannot till [their land] because of the contamination."
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