Ministry to revise food law to tighten control on rice distributors

Monday 29th September, 06:30 AM JST

TOKYO —

The farm ministry plans to revise the food law to tighten control on rice distributors in the wake of a scandal over the sale of tainted rice by an Osaka-based rice wholesaler, ministry officials said Sunday.

The Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Ministry made the proposal at a meeting of its task force for the rice-related incidents, hoping to submit a bill to revise the Law for Stabilization of Supply, Demand and Prices of Staple Food to the regular Diet session next year, they said. The ministry also plans to make it mandatory for rice distributors to keep records of rice processing and sales, the officials added.

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11 Comments

natosucks at 08:12 AM JST - 29th September

Great!, finally!
noborito at 08:41 AM JST - 29th September

and this will bring the price of rice down, to the price levels of the rest of the world?
Osakadaz at 08:54 AM JST - 29th September

The onigiri shop where I used to buy my lunch has since last week started selling onigiri that looks different and is sold packaged...it really makes you wonder!
serindipity at 09:09 AM JST - 29th September

So, this is rice! Great! Now, there is only, milk, eggs, chicken, vegetables and chocolate to get on top of and we consumers will start have faith in our shopping. Life is a gamble (literally)!
memyselfI at 11:01 AM JST - 29th September

That's nice tightening control on rice !!! But what about the other million foreign food and products coming in ? What about gyoza and milk ? I really don't won't to vomit blood when I am eatting something or go into a coma !!!!
memyselfI at 11:02 AM JST - 29th September

Rice is Nice !!!! But let's have protective measures on all the food. Does the baby food come from China ? Hmmmm !!! Something to think about !!!!
outofmydepth at 12:42 PM JST - 29th September

serendipity - don`t forget the mislabeled pork!!!
solarbuster at 02:18 PM JST - 29th September

Serindipity, don't forget about imported vegetable and meat extracts that go into many other products, dyes and preservatives and the million of other chemicals that are import with the food and never checked for. And Osakadaz your rice maybe imported cooked which dodges around the tarrifs on raw grain. Will tightening laws make it any cheaper, possibly not if they employ enough inspectors it will cost more and lets face it the big problem is the Ministry not enforcing the laws they have already.
some14some at 03:23 PM JST - 29th September

Relax all regulations just tighten the noose on Ag. Ministry the buyer and supplier of both domestic and imported food products. Distribution channels will work well once safety checks are there.
borscht at 03:28 PM JST - 29th September

I believe the rice distributor who sold rotten rice kept all his rice selling books in perfect order. Both sets. Does this new regulation come with teeth or is it just more gruel under the bridge?
ca1ic0cat at 02:36 AM JST - 30th September

Hey serindipity, Cadbury has just announced that their milk chocolates made in China have melamine in them. I guess we're royally screwed now that chocolate is off the list.

We're pretty much at the mercy of the agro giants and the governments who take donations from them. Sucks, doesn't it?