Cadmium in rice crackers drags rice farmers into the fray; toxicologist: I have never seen anyone get poisoned from eating rice; soil pollution expert: the environment has its own background levels

Recently, the Consumers' Foundation conducted random testing of rice products commonly eaten by infants and young children sold in the Taipei and New Taipei areas, and found that 4 products exceeded the cadmium limit. Want Want Group's Yilan Food, whose products were found to be non-compliant, said its rice raw material came from public grain stocks, sparking widespread discussion. In response, Chen Tsun-hsien, a retired distinguished professor in the Department of Agricultural Chemistry at National Taiwan University, said that soil in its natural state inherently contains trace amounts of cadmium, lead and other metal elements. The cadmium tolerance limit for edible rice set in the past at 0.4 ppm was based on production data and health risk assessments, and is the same as Japan's standard.

Yang Chen-chang, director of the Division of Clinical Toxicology and Occupational Medicine at Taipei Veterans General Hospital, said the current cadmium tolerance limit for edible rice is based on the standard for a 60 kg adult. Young children weigh less, so after conversion they are indeed more prone to exceeding the limit than adults, but this also depends on how the rice is eaten. In clinical practice, "I myself have never encountered anyone who developed excessive cadmium levels or even poisoning from eating rice normally."

Rice product processing plants and rice farmers, however, said that all rice sold on the market is produced according to the standards set by the Ministry of Health and Welfare. The processing plant whose products were found to be non-compliant was making food specifically for infants, and should itself have controlled its food production process and raw materials to comply with regulations. How could it shift the blame onto farmers, causing sales problems for edible rice and rice products now?