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0.1% of food items exceed radiation limit 5 1/2 years after Japan's nuke disaster
A bag of rice is seen going through a radiation check in Nihonmatsu, Fukushima Prefecture. (Mainichi)
A total of 0.1 percent of major food products from the 17 prefectures northeast of Shizuoka Prefecture registered radioactive contamination released in the Fukushima nuclear crisis in fiscal 2015, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries.
The government has been measuring radioactive contamination levels in the farm and marine products regularly since the meltdown at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant. Immediately after the outbreak of the nuclear disaster in March 2011, radioactive cesium was detected in domesticated rice and beef. However, as the government has taken measures to reduce radiation levels in food items, cesium exceeding the government-set limit is now detected only in wild vegetables, game meat and the like, raising questions over whether to continue the intense inspection regime.
The upper limit for radioactive cesium in food items is 100 becquerels per kilogram. This level was set in April 20112 to satisfy the safety concerns of the public, but is in fact more than 10 times stricter than the European Union standard.
According to the agriculture ministry, 260,538 food items were inspected in fiscal 2015, and 99 percent of farm products had cesium of less than 25 becquerels per kilogram. The tests showed that 264 items, or 0.1 percent of the total, had cesium exceeding the upper limit. Of these, 259 -- or 98 percent -- were wild mushrooms, game meat, freshwater fish and other so-called "hard-to-control items."
The remaining five cases were farmed produce: two cases of rice (in Fukushima Prefecture); two cases of soybeans (in Fukushima Prefecture); and one case of buckwheat (in Iwate Prefecture). The rice happened to be cultivated for private use. The government has been checking all bags of rice grown in Fukushima Prefecture as part of efforts to respond to consumer concerns. Therefore, there have been no cases of rice exceeding the upper cesium limit being shipped.
more...
http://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20160909/p2a/00m/0na/023000c
