The Beijing municipal government yesterday hit back at allegations that the city's grain bureau sold rotten rice in local markets.

Overseas media reported in July that the bureau had bought 290,000 tons of rotten rice during the SARS outbreak in April 2003 as reserves, and then sold it in the capital's food markets early this year. It is forbidden to sell out-of-date rice in markets because it contains high levels of a toxic pathogen, which can survive in temperatures of up to 280 degrees Celsius and might cause cancer.

The spokesperson of the municipal government pointed out in a written statement that the report was wrong on many facts.