Traces of radioactive cesium detected in Ibaraki rice
MITO —
The Ibaraki prefectural government said Friday that minute traces of radioactive cesium have been detected in rice grown in Ibaraki Prefecture.
NHK reported that the level of radioactive cesium detected was 23 becquerels of cesium-134 and 29 becquerels of cesium-137 for a total of 52 becquerels per kilogram of rice in one rice paddy in the town of Hokota. The government safety standard is 500 becquerels.
The check was carried out under government guidelines issued earlier this month. Rice will be checked twice for radioactive cesium before and after harvesting in 17 prefectures. Local governments in the prefecture are testing to see if rice has been contaminated by cesium by collecting water samples from rice paddies.
The agriculture ministry said that eating the rice poses no health threat and said that only rice confirmed to be safe will be sold.
Japan Today
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20 Comments
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4
warnerbro
"only rice confirmed to be safe will be sold." Just like we did with the beef, mates. So relax and eat up.
0
Elbuda Mexicano
This has to be the TIP of the so called ICE BERG! Now radioactive cesium detected in rice from Ibaraki, what is next?? Stupid bastards at TEPCO!!!
0
Utrack
How is this safe for people of all ages to eat and what about the other soil contaminates and whatnot did they get into the rice too.
1
JapanGal
I am glad I am stocked up on Thai rice.
-1
JapanGal
They could always sell the Ibaraki rice to America, as special glow in the dark, "Uncle Ben's Contaminated Rice"
2
valley-of-the-shadows
Zero is the safe limit. Get a grip...
3
marcelito
How much of this " safe" rice will the kids and teachers eat in their school lunches over the next 6 to 12 months? It all adds up , with the" safe" vegetables, beef, milk etc...The lunch centres always buy the cheapest produce in bulk because of budget constaints...one can imagine where the cheapest products will be from.. This is BS
2
marcelito
And we all know it's just that 1 rice paddy and all the other ones around it are safe, aren't they...
-1
mushroomcloudmaster
All of you should have fled Japan back in March when you had a chance.
1
smithinjapan
"The agriculture ministry said that eating the rice poses no health threat..."
I'm really getting sick of this tag line on every new daily detection. In fact, that's twice today; once with the kids who now have radioactive elements in their thyroids, and now with the rice that everyone said would be tainted but the government allows the farmers to keep growing.
I feel sorry for the farmers, but if they're going to harvest rice, radioactive or not, you can bet your bottom yen it'll end up in the market somewhere -- at BEST in animal feed, which will them come back to them and then possibly us. Why should they even harvest it at all if cesium is detected in it? PLOW IT UNDER!
4
DenTok2009
If you want to avoid any traces of radioactive cesium then you have to leave Japan. I think we are all breathing in and otherwise ingesting that and whatever from the air, food and water. If you are in Japan, you can't avoid the fallout from the earthquake damaged nuclear power plants. Eat, drink and be merry (and thank goodness for kokumin hoken! We're all going to need it; hopefully decades from now...).
0
Utrack
@ JapanGal
The US Supermarkets that have international sections do carry rice from Japan and some people may even buy it. There is NO need for mislabeling.
0
oberst
sell the " glow in the dark " rice and all derivative products( sake etc ) to people 60 and above ONLY . Since the radiation effect will not affect their health well beyond their normal lifespan anyway, there's no sense in burying all the good stuff.
Wait, japanese have LONGER lifespan than others........................never mind., silly me.
1
marcelito
cloudmaster- if you don,t have anything else to say better say nothing at all...many people on this forum made the decision to stay reluctantly and due to individual circumstances that you know nothing about..
0
Utrack
I wonder if the rice farmers will be allowed to grow sunflowers to decontaminate to land and if so just thinking about all the pollen these sunflower heads have and the bees that are going to collect them. How much contamination is in the pollen.
1
Asagao
Sunflowers concentrate some forms of radiation, the others stay in the rice paddy. They also die after flowering then they are dumped somewhere next to the rice field. Let's look at the bright side, the levels are supposedly safe, and it is not as if we eat rice three times a day every day of the year is it?
1
Nino Bakker Brudeset
And still the aftermath of Chernobyl with caesium 137 in plants, meat, fish etc, is a lot higher in Europe than the values everyone keeps crying about is so bad in Japan. If the higher values in food around Europe isn't a concern. Why should this be? Japan's safety limits are as I can see lower than the Europe standard and only slightly higher than the US standard.
Haven't done too much research on this though. But my point being that everyone keeps going on that "Everything is so much better over here."
Well is it really?
1
warnerbro
See the 8/21 Daily Yomiuri article about Miyagi rice for more news.
1
Darren Brannan
Actually at the time of Chernobyl the Japanese imposed a 'safe' threshold of 300 Bq or so for European produce.. Compared to 500 Bq for Japanese produce now. Japan must have unique isotopes.
0
Utrack
@ warnerbro
Realy good article, this farmer is taking a proactive approach to this situation. Good for Him.
Miyagi farmer to ship rice after own safety inspection
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/T110820002130.htm
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