Tests found excess level of the potentially cancer-causing material in 0.04 hectares in the renowned rice-producing township of Houbi, reports said. None of the 1.28 tons of rice produced there went to market, but would be burned Friday, according to the COA.

The controversy over contaminated rice followed a separate incident about high dioxin levels found at a duck farm in Kaohsiung County last week.

Chromium is a toxic and carcinogenic substance used in dyes, paints and in the tanning of leather. Abandoned chromium-processing plants require cleaning up to prevent pollution.

Rice from the field in Houbi contained 692 parts per million of chromium, or more than double the safety limit of 250 ppm. The field was closed off and growing food has temporarily been banned, officials said. The company responsible for the pollution would have to pay for the cleaning up.

The chromium only affected the roots of the rice plants and not the edible parts, COA Minister Chen Wu-hsiung told lawmakers.

The EPA confirmed a report by the Chinese-language China Times yesterday that the contamination was likely to have been caused by steel slag carried to the area from a nearby plant during flooding caused by Typhoon Morakot last August.

After the investigation was completed, farmers would receive necessary compensation and assistance in cleaning up the fields, said EPA Vice Minister Chang Tzu-ching.

The EPA would help with removing the contaminated soil if necessary and replacing it with clean earth, he said.

Speaking at the Legislative Yuan yesterday, Chang said the local county government's environmental department might have been negligent in the case so the EPA would strengthen its supervision.

The comment came under fire from opposition Democratic Progressive Party lawmakers because the Kuomintang central government seemed to be putting the blame for the incident on the DPP administration in Tainan County.

County environmental officials said it was the Ministry of Economic Affairs which had legalized the recycling of steel slag into other materials in the first place, so it should bear responsibility for the pollution.

The EPA said it would request the MOEA to change its rules on steel slag to make sure the heavy metals did not come into contact with soil. The government's environmental body had written to each local government to check for pollution by steel slag within one month, Chang said.

Last week, more than 9,000 ducks were slaughtered at a farm in Daliao, Kaohsiung County, after high levels of dioxin were found thought to be coming from steel slag. Neighboring pineapple fields and fish farms were also feared to have been contaminated.