OSAKA, JAPAN - A former president of Osaka-based Mikasa Foods was sentenced to two years in prison and fined 4 million yen on Friday for violating the Unfair Competition Prevention Law by reselling pesticide-tainted rice as edible.

The Osaka District Court also levied an 8 million yen fine against Mikasa Foods, which is undergoing bankruptcy proceedings. Prosecutors had demanded that Mitsuo Fuyuki, 74, serve four years in prison and pay a fine of 5 million yen, and the firm pay a fine of 10 million yen.

According to the ruling, Fuyuki conspired with Kazuo Miyazaki, 77, a former adviser to Mikasa Foods, and others. They then sold as edible rice 876 tons of rice mixed with nonglutinous rice imported from Vietnam for industrial use to six sake breweries in Kumamoto and Kagoshima prefectures between January and July of last year.