COA Chairman Chen Wu-hsiung said he will instruct the Agriculture and Food Agency to study the details of purchasing rice from those farmers, though he suggested that rice from paddies in Houbi Township, where excessive amounts of chromium were found, could not have been contaminated and was good of quality.

Chen told the press that there is no such thing as chromium or arsenic contaminated rice. Though such heavy metals in the soil might affect the growth of rice plants, the grains are usually free from contamination, according to the agriculture official.

However, Chen's comments may not alleviate consumer fears of eating contaminated rice, which means there will probably be no market for the second harvest of rice from Houbi Township. The COA is therefore stepping up efforts to help affected rice farmers by purchasing the crops from them at guaranteed prices.

It hopes that the government's purchase, as a gesture of quality guarantee since the rice will be put on the market, will help build confidence among consumers.

A COA spokesman said that local agricultural authorities are providing assistance to farmers by checking the quality of their rice harvest and providing storage space for rice stocks.

The COA also announced that when the second harvest comes in, the government plans to purchase from each hectare of rice paddy 1,440 kilograms of rice at NT$23 per kilo, 800 kilograms at NT$20 per kilo, and 2,360 kilograms at NT$18.6 per kilo.

The second harvest is expected to yield an average 4,500 kilograms of rice.

In the wake of media reports about serious soil pollution in Houbi Township, the Environmental Protection Administration announced on Monday that the agency would destroy 1,280 kilograms of chromium-contaminated rice from the area.

Tsai Hung-the, executive secretary of the EPA's Soil and Groundwater Pollution Remediation Fund, said that tests by the Tainan County government indicated that soil from rice paddies adjacent to a metalmaking slag recycling plant were found to contain excessive amounts of chromium.

Tainan County Magistrate Shu Huang-chih said the same day that further investigation of the soil contamination issue is required, therefore, the county government would invite the Consumers Protection Association and environmental groups to conduct a joint investigation by taking soil samples for analysis.

He said results of the tests will be released to the public by early next week.