Why did a sake brewery file suit against Mikasa Foods?
Osaka-based rice miller Mikasa Foods might have purchased non-edible rice from the government for 3 to 12 yen per kilogram and sold it to an alcoholic beverage maker in Kagoshima Prefecture for some 70 yen, earning a huge profit margin, industry sources said Tuesday. Mikasa Foods also submitted false sales slips and merchandise ledgers to the farm ministry in which it stated that it had shipped the non- edible rice after processing it into products to be used in glue, although it had sold the rice as edible in breach of contracts with the ministry, the sources said. The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries concluded contracts with Mikasa Foods to sell such tainted imported rice to the company on condition that it be used for non-edible purposes. But Mikasa Foods resold the tainted rice to three liquor makers and 36 confectionery companies in Kagoshima, Miyazaki and Ibaraki prefectures for far higher prices than non-edible rice prices, the ministry said. Farm minister Seiichi
