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SCMP Reporter

Police have issued a warrant for the arrest of a farmer in Henan province who allegedly sold 55 tonnes of 'poisonous rice' to a shop in Guangzhou.

Wang Bin, a farmer from Xinxiang in Yuanyang county, allegedly sold rice mixed with paraffin last month to a shop in the Baiyun district of Guangzhou. The shop owner in turn sold 46 tonnes of the rice to unsuspecting customers.

It was unlikely that the rice would cause serious food poisoning because it would give out a strong odour of petrol if cooked, making it unpalatable.

Paraffin was apparently added to 'whiten' the rice, which had lost its lustre due to oxidation.

According to a report by Xinhua yesterday, Wang bought the old stock from Shandong in November and changed the packaging. He allegedly mixed the rice with paraffin so that he could sell it as high quality stock.

Xinhua said three other suspects identified as Chen Fengyi, Zhou Jinjing and Zhang Quanzhan had been arrested. Wang remains at large.

The scandal was exposed last week when officials in Guangzhou searched the rice shop in Baiyun district after they received complaints from consumers.

Officials then found almost 10 tonnes of the paraffin-laced rice but the shop owner had already fled with the invoices, making investigation difficult.

It was not clear from Xinhua's report if the shop owner in Guangzhou was among the three suspects arrested.

However, the agency said government departments, including the State Bureau of Quality and Technical Supervision, were alarmed by the incident and immediately ordered an investigation.

The bureau issued a circular on Saturday warning local governments to step up inspection to prevent the paraffin-tainted rice from entering the market. It was reported that some of the tainted rice had been found in Shanghai.

Officials are searching rice markets in Henan province and a work team sent by the bureau arrived over the weekend to oversee the investigation.

So far, 15 tonnes of the rice have been found in markets in Henan province, including five tonnes from the rice market in Yuanyang county.

Both Shandong and Henan are major food producers in China.



Farmer accused of selling tainted rice to Guangzhou shop