Tokyo, Sept 19 - Japan plans to resume a tender for imported rice soon, a former top bureaucrat said on Friday, after a halt this week due to a scandal involving tainted overseas rice that had been fed to hospital patients and schoolchildren.
Earlier on Friday, Vice Agriculture Minister Toshiro Shirasu resigned to take responsibility for the ministry's failing to spot the fact that some companies had sold tainted rice -- meant for industrial purposes -- to food makers in the past several years.
Agriculture Minister Seiichi Ota also resigned on Friday due to the fallout.
"We'll soon consider the timing of resumption (of the tender)," Shirasu said at a news conference.
Asked if the next rice tender would be held by the year-end, Shirasu said: "No, not like that. It should be as soon as possible."
The food scandal, in which small companies sold rice contaminated with pesticides and mould to food and liquor companies, comes as the ruling party gears up for a lower house election which media have reported could take place as early as next month.
It is the latest in a string of food industry scares to unnerve consumers, whose confidence in what they eat has been shattered by repeated quality and false labelling scandals in recent years ranging from sweets to milk and meat.
The agriculture ministry unveiled new guidelines to stop the sale of imported rice found to be unfit for consumption.
Rice traders previously had the option of selling such tainted rice for use in fertilisers or glue, but they will in future be forced to dispose or ship back such grain.
Rice imports are almost all handled by the ministry, with local users mostly avoiding other channels due to high tariffs imposed to protect the market for locally produced short-grain rice.
Japan has imported only 28,000 tonnes of rice, all for use in food processing, in the fiscal year that started in April.
Although Japan generally produces more rice than it consumes, the country plans to import 770,000 tonnes this fiscal year via tenders to meet trade agreements.
Of that, 100,000 tonnes are for use as table rice, the kind that is initially served with dishes and not involved in the scandal.
Regarding wheat tenders, Shirasu said the ministry would resume them soon, with the timing in line with that of rice imports.
The suspension of wheat tenders was announced a day after that of rice tenders on Sept. 17.
The ministry had asked wheat traders to check their sales records in the past five years of wheat unfit to consumption. Wheat traders are currently allowed to sell such wheat for animal feed use.