Yunlin Zhang Agricultural Products Processing Factory fined 4 million yuan for mixing rice, the first case after the amendment of the Food Management Act
With the Dragon Boat Festival approaching, demand for glutinous rice has risen sharply, and reports have circulated in the market of operators using imported glutinous rice to pass off as domestic glutinous rice. The Agriculture and Food Agency of the Council of Agriculture said today that it had found that Yunlin Zhang Agricultural Products Processing Plant used imported glutinous rice to pass off as domestic glutinous rice for sale downstream. Because the mixed-rice items covered both long-grain glutinous rice and round-grain glutinous rice, and the Zhang Agricultural Products Processing Plant had sales of 1 million yuan, under the newly amended Food Administration Act, the operator will be fined 2 million yuan for each of these two mixed-rice acts, for a total fine of NT$4 million.
After the Shanshui Rice mixed-rice case, imported rice passed off as domestic rice is discovered for the first time, with a heavy fine of 4 million
This is the second time since August (2013), when Quanshun Shanshui Rice was exposed for selling Vietnamese rice passed off as domestic rice, that a grain trader in the country has been found selling imported rice passed off as domestic rice. It is also the first mixed-rice case to receive a heavy fine of 4 million yuan after the amendment of the Food Administration Act.
Chen Chun-yen, deputy director-general of the Agriculture and Food Agency, said that on June 9 it received a report that the rice mill "Zhang Agricultural Products Processing Plant" in Citong Township, Yunlin County, had supplied 30 kg packs of long-grain glutinous rice (also called pointed glutinous rice) and round-grain glutinous rice to the Jiahe Rice Mill in Taoyuan City, and that these two products were suspected of being adulterated with imported rice. It immediately went separately to the Zhang Agricultural Products Processing Plant and the Jiahe Rice Mill on June 10 to sample the relevant products and send them to the China Grain Products Research and Development Institute for DNA analysis.
After nearly a week of testing, the institute found that the long-grain glutinous rice sampled at the Zhang Agricultural Products Processing Plant was domestic rice, while 20% of the round-grain glutinous rice was non-domestic rice. However, the long-grain glutinous rice supplied to the Jiahe Rice Mill was 100% non-domestic rice, and the round-grain glutinous rice had 10% non-domestic rice, showing that the Zhang Agricultural Products Processing Plant used imported glutinous rice passed off as domestic glutinous rice for sale. Chen Chun-yen speculated that this batch of imported rice very likely came from Vietnam.
Mixed rice suspected to come from Vietnam
Chen Chun-yen said that the Agriculture and Food Agency today inspected wholesale prices of domestic and imported glutinous rice on the market. Depending on the importing country of the glutinous rice, prices were on average 4 to 10 yuan cheaper than the wholesale price of domestic glutinous rice, which is about 26 yuan per Taiwanese catty. According to the Jiahe Rice Mill in Taoyuan City, the mill purchased long-grain glutinous rice at 24 yuan per Taiwanese catty and round-grain glutinous rice at 26 yuan per Taiwanese catty from the Zhang Agricultural Products Processing Plant in 30 kg packs, and the Zhang Agricultural Products Processing Plant also labeled the place of origin on the outer packaging as "Taiwan", showing that the Zhang Agricultural Products Processing Plant sold them under the name of domestic rice. The Agriculture and Food Agency has already required the operator to recall and remove them from shelves.
Chen Chun-yen said, interview records show that the quantity shipped by the Yunlin County Zhang Agricultural Products Processing Plant does not match the quantity purchased by the Jiahe Rice Mill,because the person in charge of the Zhang Agricultural Products Processing Plant provided only part of the account books.The person in charge of the plant promised to provide other account books on June 22 for investigation and comparison,and as for the plant's products being found to contain imported glutinous rice, it will apply for re-testing.
The Agriculture and Food Agency pointed out that annual domestic demand for glutinous rice is about 82,000 metric tons (white rice), while the average output over the past 3 years was 59,600 metric tons. The shortfall is supplied by imported glutinous rice. From January to May of year 104, imports of glutinous rice totaled 10,385 metric tons, including 7,534 metric tons from Vietnam, 2,048 metric tons from Thailand, 800 metric tons from the United States, and 3 metric tons from Japan. Because Vietnamese glutinous rice is cheap on the international market, domestic imports are the largest. At present, the wholesale price of Vietnamese long-grain glutinous rice on the market is about 28 yuan per kg, about 16 yuan cheaper than domestic long-grain glutinous rice; the wholesale price of Vietnamese short-grain glutinous rice is about 33 yuan per kg, about 11 yuan cheaper than domestic round-grain glutinous rice. In addition, our country is strict about food safety controls on imported rice. The Ministry of Health and Welfare conducts batch-by-batch inspection of imported rice at the border, and it may be imported only after passing inspection before entry.
Chen Chun-yen said that after the Shanshui Rice mixed-rice incident, the Council of Agriculture amended the Food Administration Act on June 18, 2014 to increase penalties, and it took effect on December 18 of the same year. Therefore, in response to the Zhang Agricultural Products Processing Plant's act of mixing foreign rice and labeling it as Taiwan glutinous rice, the Agriculture and Food Agency will, under the new law, impose a fine of 2 million New Taiwan dollars for each of the Zhang Agricultural Products Processing Plant's acts of mixing foreign rice in long-grain glutinous rice and round-grain glutinous rice, for a total of 4 million New Taiwan dollars.