TOKYO - WHILE world attention focuses on China's tainted-milk scandal, Japan's tainted-rice nightmare continues to snowball.

In one prefecture, it has emerged that for no less than five years, rice tainted with pesticide or mould was used in omelettes served in school meals.

In another, egg rolls made with tainted rice formed part of 90,000 school lunches.

The rice - originally imported from China, Vietnam and the United States - was then shipped to food companies which distributed it: this has caused the president of one rice-selling company to commit suicide.

In the most recent multi-year revelation, the Aichi prefectural board of education announced last Saturday that omelettes using starch made from tainted rice were dished up at 457 primary, middle and other schools from 2003 to this year.

The starch was made by Suguru, a food-processing company in Tokyo, and had been used in 11 kinds of food.

The board revealed that a kindergarten, 296 primary schools, 114 middle schools, 26 prefectural high schools and 20 special-needs schools in the prefecture had bought the tainted omelettes through prefectural school-lunch centres.

Meanwhile, in Chiba prefecture and Nagano city, fried egg rolls containing starch made from tainted rice were served in 90,000 school lunches.

The starch used to make the egg rolls was produced by Niigata Prefecture-based Shimada Kagaku Kogyo. The egg rolls were made by Suguru, the firm also involved in the Aichi case.

The rolls were served in school lunches at 128 kindergartens, middle and high schools in 20 municipalities in Chiba prefecture last year, from April 6 to Dec 26.

The Nagano Municipal Board of Education said egg rolls and other Suguru-made foods made using tainted starch were served at 26 municipal primary and middle schools in the city from May last year to February this year. -- YOMIURI SHIMBUN/ANN