Sunday May 27, 2012

JAPAN NEWS AND DISCUSSION

Dairy association to test products for radiation

National Feb. 03, 2012 - 05:02AM JST ( 22 )

TOKYO —

The Japan Dairy Association said Thursday that its member companies will test their dairy products for radiation at 180 different manufacturing locations in 17 prefectures.

The association, which has 19 members, says it is responding to requests from area schools to confirm that the products are safe for consumption, Jiji Press reported.

The test results will be announced by the end of February, the association said.

Japan Today

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22 Comments

6

KingBasilFeb. 03, 2012 - 07:09AM JST

Gee, why now? Why not wait until its been a full year after the disaster? What is one more month when 11 are now behind you? (sarcasm off)
3

UtrackFeb. 03, 2012 - 07:52AM JST

I have no words.
3

Ewan HuzarmyFeb. 03, 2012 - 07:56AM JST

I guess the milk that I'm using on my porridge will give me that ready-break glow, even if I switch to cornflakes !
2

WA4TKGFeb. 03, 2012 - 09:36AM JST

With this news, I guess I should be glad I didn't buy a COW to save on the ridiculous price of milk.
0

Sarcasm321Feb. 03, 2012 - 09:37AM JST

The anti-nuclear lobby will probably try to milk the results of these tests for all their worth.
5

marcelitoFeb. 03, 2012 - 09:39AM JST

11 months after the fact?...A very timely response by J establishment - just the kind we have come to expect over the last year....
3

ElvensilvanFeb. 03, 2012 - 09:39AM JST

Several weeks (or was it months already?), a big company making baby milk has recalled their products due to radiation detected.

Why can't these associations step up and take the initiative instead of waiting for the pressure coming from concerned parents and teachers before they start thinking "Oh yeah, let's test the milk."

I guess it's just another normal day in the land of indecision and incompetence.
2

Samantha Zoe AsoFeb. 03, 2012 - 09:52AM JST

Honestly, Woody Allen couldn't write better material. Farce!

Start testing after the nation has been gulping down the stuff for 10 months. I am starting to think that the powers to be are just hoping this whole situation will just disappear. Why not wait another year or so and confirm that the milk is okay. Talk about the horse bolting...
1

tmarieFeb. 03, 2012 - 10:57AM JST

TO test? I thought they were testing all along - which is why I knew about the milk mixing where high levels get mixed in with low levels and when it is under the legal limit, it gets sold.

How happy am I that I have been buying things from around here - or, at least the label states it is. Not that I 100% trust that!

Christ, this country is a joke.
5

FarmboyFeb. 03, 2012 - 11:16AM JST

So the Dairy Association will be testing its own milk? I predict absolutely no radiation will be found. It will be a very reassuring report.
0

MaboDofuIsSpicyFeb. 03, 2012 - 11:44AM JST

I think most of the milk is safe. Where can we place our bets?
-2

nigelboyFeb. 03, 2012 - 12:04PM JST

The Japan Dairy Association HAS BEEN TESTING "raw milk" since March of last year. Those test results can be found on their website separated by dates and prefectures. You can start with "Q&A" which answers most if the concerns raised by above posters.

Back to regular programming.
-4

horrifiedFeb. 03, 2012 - 12:50PM JST

Check out the results here: http://www.maff.go.jp/e/seisan/milk_inspection/rawmilk.html

And scroll down to see some high numbers from Ibaraki and Fukushima. We know that they are not throwing this milk out, either. Expect to see it in your next pastry or other generic conbini food.
2
ElvensilvanFeb. 03, 2012 - 01:08PM JST
@nigelboy

You seem to miss the point of the article by a mile.

Dairy products do not only cover milk, but all by-products as well. Even if the milk itself may be uncontaminated, the other ingredients may be contaminated.

What are the other by-products of milk?
- Butter
- Cheese
- Different kinds of milk (skimmed, sterilized, low-fat, non-fat, etc)
- Ice cream
As we have known from the baby milk recall, the milk itself was not contaminated, but the contamination seems to have been introduced in the drying process.
-2

nigelboyFeb. 03, 2012 - 01:13PM JST

Elvensilvan

I'm quite aware. But it appears most posters are not. That's why I emphasized raw milk in parenthesis.
1

Darren BrannanFeb. 03, 2012 - 05:13PM JST

I laugh. Ha! Only been foreign cheese, Aussie milk powder and Kiwi yoghurt in my house since it happened. Daycare was banned from giving my daughter milk since that truck of Tohoku milk upturned in kyoto. Just as with the milk, the authorities think that mixing and diluting the truth makes things palatable and safe. No.
0

Darren BrannanFeb. 03, 2012 - 05:15PM JST

And as horrified rightly points out, whey is used in a great many foods.
1

CletusFeb. 03, 2012 - 05:48PM JST

Unbelievable simply unbelievable. It has been nearly 12 months since this happened and now the dairy association has decided to start testing its products. I have one thing to say WHY FREAKING BOTHER!!!!! You morons have waited this long why even bother with it or where you hoping if you left it long enough the readings would be lower. This country seriously make me shake my head in disgust, how can any country seriously be so stupid. And how can any population be so indoctrinated as to not question and demand answers.
1

tokyokawasakiFeb. 03, 2012 - 06:16PM JST

Why selective testing? Why isn't EVERYTHING tested?

What really gets me though is this is corrupt Japan. Which means no one will believe the results (which we all know will be 'YES the milk is safe')...
2

Darren BrannanFeb. 03, 2012 - 09:19PM JST

Oh and if you love katsuo then the government passed the safety of said fish from the Fukushima bay area on a sample of TWO fish. I had better link this to milk before the mods gleefully send a mail to my junkmail box again. No sorry.. Katsuo don't drink milk and my post has nothing to do with public safety. Why bother. Oh and if you are the parent of an infant, the monbusho science wing would like your child to have 50 bq more radiation in their diet because not to do so would harm the food producers ( monopoly) in Japan. So don't worry about milk, rice or all the other luxuries.. Japanese kids need to eat more rads to prop up the economy. http://ex-skf.blogspot.com/2012/02/japans-ministry-of-education-radiation.html links to original Japanese articles within this article. I am getting my kid out of dodge this April. It would be easy not to care if I hadn't taught kindergarten for the last ten years.. Or if I wasn't a parent. I was. I am. At least know what the organs of higher persuasion think.
0

Ewan HuzarmyFeb. 03, 2012 - 10:57PM JST

The milk of human kindness, the bureaucratic blindness....souring nature's bounty, then ship to every county .

I am the People's Poet !
0

warnerbroFeb. 03, 2012 - 11:43PM JST

The saddest aspect of this situation is that Japan has enough food that it does not need to feed contamination to its children. It could set the limit at 10 becquerels as easily as 100. There would be no change in the availability of food. There would be plenty. The threat to children would be reduced, especially those in Fukushima Ibaraki, Gunma, Tochigi, Miyagi, segments of Chiba and Tokyo that received the heaviest fallout. Their bodies are already getting too heavy a dose. The government holds the profits of farmers and others in the food industry to be more important than the health of the nation's children. Japan is using children as rubbish disposals. Japanese should be ashamed.