Japan and beef contamination behind the problem
In a radiological event it would seem most important to be ahead of distributing contamination. Two things either Japan is scared to face up to the problem of contamination and the pr nightmare for nuclear industry .or perhaps there just overwhelmed by the situation .scary to think contaminated cattle could get on to tables in restaurants and stores .what else is slipping into stores farmers markets ,restaurants.think about it any one who does five minutes Of research will notice cattle magnify contamination through feed source .why allow farms "near" whatever that means to distribute there goods .
"Cesium found in hay at another farm in Fukushima
Radioactive cesium far exceeding safe limits has been detected in hay fed to cattle at a second farm near the crippled nuclear power plant in Fukushima Prefecture.
Fukushima's government warned on Thursday that 42 possibly contaminated cattle have already been shipped out from the farm in Asakawa Town.
The finding came during inspections ordered by the prefecture after a large dose of the radioactive substance was found in hay at the first farm in Minami-Soma City.
The latest checks uncovered radioactive cesium measured up to 97,000 becquerels per kilogram -- some 73 times the government-set safety limit.
The 42 cattle had been sent to 4 meat-processing plants between April 8th and July 6th -- 14 to Yokohama; 13 to Tokyo; 10 to Sendai and 5 to Chiba."
http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/14_39.html
just one prefecture in the country unaffected
State to buy all radioactive beef
Kyodo
The government will buy up all beef found to contain radioactive cesium at levels exceeding the allowable limit, and incinerate it, a senior farm ministry official said Thursday.
Nobutaka Tsutsui, senior vice minister of agriculture, forestry and fisheries, said the ministry is considering expanding the inspections currently imposed on all cattle shipped from Fukushima Prefecture to those from other prefectures.
"We're considering how much we can broaden the inspections on all the cattle and farms from outside Fukushima Prefecture," he said.
The latest move came as beef suspected of being contaminated with the isotope was found to have reached Tottori Prefecture, leaving just one prefecture in the country unaffected by the growing beef scare.
The Tottori government said a farm in the prefecture bought rice straw prepared in Miyagi Prefecture, and that most of its 200 to 300 bovines that had possibly eaten it were marketed within Tottori between April and July.
Meanwhile a Kyodo News tally revealed the same day a total of 1,349 cows suspected of being fed rice straw containing radioactive cesium have been shipped to 45 prefectures.
Prefectural surveys received Wednesday showed that 699 head of cattle suspected of contamination were shipped from farms in Iwate, Akita, Gunma, Niigata, Gifu and Shizuoka prefectures, adding to cows found to have been shipped from farms in Niigata, Fukushima, Yamagata and Saitama prefectures.
In Iwate, up to 57,000 becquerels of radioactive cesium per kilogram — far above the government limit of 300 becquerels — was detected in rice straw given to cattle at five farms in Ichinoseki and Fujisawa, according to the prefectural government. It was the first time cesium has been found in rice straw produced in the prefecture.
Farms in Shizuoka, Akita, Gunma and Gifu had been feeding their cattle with rice straw produced in Tome, Miyagi Prefecture, bringing to eight the number of prefectures that have received shipments of rice straw produced in Miyagi.
Radioactive cesium is believed to be coming from the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant.
While more than 1,000 cattle suspected of radioactive contamination were confirmed to have been shipped, less than 10 percent of the beef was inspected. The Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry decided Wednesday to request municipalities across the country to put priority on inspecting beef already in the market rather than monitoring vegetables and other products waiting to be shipped. Farms in Fujinomiya, Shizuoka Prefecture, purchased 70 tons of rice straw produced in Tome. Tests showed the straw had 9,380 becquerels of cesium per kilogram.
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20110721x2.html
Update
More beef cattle fed irradiated straw
Fukushima and Niigata prefectures have identified more farms that shipped beef cattle that had been fed straw containing radioactive cesium in amounts above the government standard.
Fukushima Prefecture says 7 farms in 6 municipalities fed their cattle straw left outdoors after the March nuclear accident in the prefecture. The straw was found to contain radioactive cesium in amounts up to 520 times the standard.
The farms shipped 411 head of cattle to meat-processing facilities in 5 prefectures including Tokyo from late March to early July.
Fukushima asked local authorities to trace the meat and carry out radiation checks if any was found.
The prefecture also asked all cattle farms in the prefecture to voluntarily refrain from shipping and transferring their stock for the time being.
T thought they killed livestock around fuku
84 more Fukushima cows found shipped
Cattle fed contaminated hay sent to five prefectures
Kyodo
A further 84 cows shipped from five beef cattle farms in Fukushima Prefecture were fed with hay containing high levels of radioactive cesium, the prefectural government said Saturday.
Hay buffet: Cattle are fed Saturday at a farm in the town of Miharu, Fukushima Prefecture, after checks confirmed the hay was not contaminated with radioactive cesium. KYODO PHOTO
The cows were shipped between March 28 and July 13 to slaughterhouses in five prefectures — Miyagi, Fukushima, Yamagata, Saitama and Tokyo — and the Fukushima Prefectural Government has asked municipalities to check whether that meat has been distributed.
Fifty-three of the cows were sent to Tokyo, 19 to Fukushima Prefecture, eight to Kawaguchi in Saitama Prefecture, two to Yamagata Prefecture and two to Sendai in Miyagi Prefecture.
The latest findings surfaced during a survey of farms the prefecture started July 11, after a farm in Minamisoma was found to have fed cows with hay containing radioactive cesium far above the government's limit of 500 becquerels per kg.
According to the prefectural government, the 84 cows were raised at five farms in the cities of Koriyama, Kitakata and Soma, and were fed with hay that farmers cut from rice paddies after the March 11 earthquake and tsunami triggered the nuclear crisis at the Fukushima No. 1 power plant.
Hay remaining at a Koriyama farm was found to be contaminated with a level of cesium measuring 500,000 becquerels per kg.
The farmers involved told Fukushima authorities that they were unaware of the central government's instruction issued March 19 that farm animals should not eat feed kept outdoors during the nuclear crisis.
An official from the Fukushima Prefectural Government's farm department said at a news conference that the local municipality failed to properly convey the instructions to farmers. "We will reflect on it," the official said.
Meanwhile, the survey also found that meat from 42 cows shipped from a farm in Asakawa, Fukushima Prefecture, where hay fed to cows was also found to be contaminated with high levels of radioactive cesium, has been distributed to at least 30 prefectures.
Of the 30, the meat was sold to consumers and likely eaten in 13 prefectures, including Akita, Ibaraki, Nagano, Aichi and Kagawa.
Officials of the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry said tests conducted by local governments on meat from six of the 42 cows that did not reach the market revealed levels of radioactive cesium below the maximum limit in four of the cows.
However, meat from the other two cows, which had reached wholesalers in Tokyo and Yamagata Prefecture, contained 650 and 694 becquerels per kg, the officials said.
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20110717a1.html
Better act fast, To late.What about the fish
Shipment ban on beef may widen
Kyodo
The government may consider expanding the area for suspending beef cattle shipments beyond Fukushima Prefecture, where it plans to soon impose such curbs, senior vice health minister Kohei Otsuka said Sunday.
"We are currently considering Fukushima Prefecture, but we may have to consider the need for further response by checking the distribution of contaminated straw," Otsuka said on a TV program.
The government's nuclear disaster task force is set to suspend shipments of beef cattle from Fukushima Prefecture, where the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant reactors are spewing radiation, amid concern that some beef from a local farm was found to be contaminated with radioactive cesium after being fed with tainted straw.
Otsuka proposed setting up an inspection base for conducting urine examinations on all cows and returning those that show levels of radioactive substances higher than the government-set limit to farms so they can be decontaminated by giving them safe feed.
Under this idea, which he qualified as his "personal opinion," Otsuka said the central government would purchase noncontaminated straw from regions in western Japan and provide it to farms so they can feed it to the cows.
On Sunday, the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry and affected local governments continued looking into distribution channels of meat that could be contaminated with radioactive materials, as beef cattle shipped from other farms in Fukushima Prefecture were also found the previous day to have been fed contaminated straw.