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A rice wholesaler affiliated with disgraced Mikasa Foods sold contaminated foreign rice to a shochu distiller by falsely labeling it as a pure domestic product, it has emerged.

Tatsunomi, a Tokyo-based rice wholesaler, issued a false certificate of origin for tainted foreign rice it sold to Kumamoto-based shochu distiller Bishonen Corp., saying that the rice was "100 percent domestic."

Tatsunomi is affiliated with Osaka-based rice wholesaler and processor Mikasa Foods, with the latter's president, Mitsuo Fuyuki, also the head of Tatsunomi. Most of the employees of Mikasa Foods are on loan from Tatsunomi, according to a private research company.

It is suspected that Mikasa Foods, which has been under fire since it was found to have sold tainted rice for human consumption, used Tatsunomi to distribute tainted rice because the affiliate had a good reputation for supplying edible rice.

Among the rice that was shipped by Mikasa Foods, Tatsunomi was involved in the distribution of rice contaminated with the insecticide acetamiprid and aflatoxin B1 mold. The insecticide-tainted rice was sold to Bishonen Corp. by way of Tatsunomi, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries.

After the tainted rice scandal surfaced, Bishonen Corp. demanded Tatsunomi issue a certificate of origin for its rice. Tatsunomi ostensibly complied by issuing a false certificate on Monday, which said the rice was "100 percent domestically produced."

Furthermore, Tatsunomi reportedly told Bishonen Corp. the same day that the rice it sold was completely free of tainted rice.

However, the rice sold to Bishonen Corp. was actually nonglutinous rice produced in Vietnam. It further turned out that the rice was directly shipped from the Kyushu factory of Mikasa Foods to Bishonen Corp.

"We asked them to sell us domestic rice, but it turned out to be tainted foreign rice. We are furious," said Naoaki Ogata, president of Bishonen Corp. "We will discuss with our lawyers over how to file a compensation claim and lodge a criminal complaint."