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Beef contaminated by radiation from Fukushima prefecture has been eaten by consumers in Japan, intensifying food-safety concerns and stoking criticism against a government testing program that checks only selected products.

About 437 kilograms (963 pounds) of beef from a farm in Minami-Soma city, 30 kilometers from the stricken Fukushima Dai- Ichi nuclear station, was consumed in eight prefectures, according to the Tokyo metropolitan government, which detected the first case of tainted beef from the farm earlier this month.

Four months after a record earthquake and tsunami crippled the power plant in Fukushima, site of the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl, local government offices are struggling to check every farm product due to a shortage of testing equipment, staff and budget. Prolonged exposure to radiation in the air, ground and food can cause leukemia and other cancers, according to the London-based World Nuclear Association.

This video is a news report on the Fukushima nuclear disaster forcing a ban on exports of beef and the nuclear power plant still leaking as of Oct 28th 2011.

[...] There is no such guarantee but anywhere. Out of the meals that may be beef suspected of August last year, has been contaminated with radioactive cesium from rice straw has been used as a food school lunch has become clear, radioactive cesium has entered in the current December 1 school was ¥ 26 433 municipal schools 46 18 prefectures. Number of children that may have to eat is up to 180,000 people to surprise. [...]

Read the report here

Fukushima Diary translates (a summary?):

The survey by the Ministry of Education and Science has revealed that 296 schools in 12 prefectures have used beef from cows suspected of radioactive cesium contamination. 2 schools used the beef whose cesium level exceeded the provisional safety limit. It is not considered the level of cesium in the meat will affect health, but the ministry is telling the schools to pay attention to information on shipping restriction on food items [due to radiation].

According to the ministry, as of August 9, the meat from the cows that may have eaten radioactive rice hay was used in school lunches in 278 elementary schools, junior high schools, high schools, and special education schools, and 18 kindergartens, in 20 cities and towns in Japan. 127 schools in Yokohama City used it, so did 53 schools and kindergartens in Gifu City [in Gifu Prefecture], and 30 schools and kindergartens in 4 cities in Miyagi Prefecture. The schools are mostly located in eastern Japan, but 40 schools in 4 cities in Mie, Shimane, Kagawa Prefectures also used the meat.

30 schools were able to test the remaining meat, and radioactive materials were detected at 8 schools. Of the 8 schools, two schools - a special education school for students with disabilities in Miyagi Prefecture and an elementary school in Chiba, had the meat that exceeded the provisional safety limit (500 becquerels/kg of radioactive cesium), testing 1,293 to 649 becquerels/kg. The municipalities say the amount of contaminated beef per person is small, and it won't affect the health.In the meantime, the Food Safety Commission under the Cabinet Office is soliciting public comments (in Japanese alone please, says the Commission) on their detailed justification for their decision to set 100 millisieverts for life-time allowable radiation exposure for the Japanese. If you read their conclusion, you would think there would be no problem with any of the nuclides that have been released from the broken nuclear power plant in Fukushima.

According to the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, radioactive cesium in the amount exceeding the national provisional limit has been detected from the beef from a cow raised in Fukushima Prefecture. This meat has been stored at a meat processing facility, and according to the investigation so far the cow was never fed the radioactive rice hay. The national government was going to lift the shipping ban on meat cows in Fukushima Prefecture today (August 19) but instead has instructed the Fukushima prefectural government to continue to halt shipping for the time being and conduct further investigation.

On a separate piece of news (link in Japanese), the manure made from chicken poop mixed with dead leaves and sawdust in Tama district of Tokyo (west) has been found to contain 890 becquerels/kg of radioactive cesium. I hope it is from dead leaves or sawdust, and not from chickens. Chickens are fed with the chicken feed from the US, and they are raised indoors.

Revelations that radiation-contaminated rice straw used as feed for beef cattle was produced far away from the crippled Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant have sent shockwaves through the livestock farming community in Fukushima Prefecture. Consumers have also been filled with a sense of growing distrust in the government over delays in responding to the problem of radiation-tainted beef.

Forty-two beef cows that ate rice straw contaminated with radioactive cesium were found to have been shipped from a livestock farm in the Fukushima Prefecture town of Asakawa from April 8. The rice straw had been supplied by a farmer in Shirakawa, about 75 kilometers away from the tsunami-hit nuclear power station. "It's unbelievable that this (contamination) occurred in an area so far away from the nuclear plant," said a 34-year-old man who has run a livestock farm in Minamisoma, Fukushima Prefecture, for nearly 10 years.

On July 8 the government asked livestock farmers in the city to refrain from shipping beef.

Nuclear accidents could threaten not only the livelihoods and health of people living nearby but also relations between food producers and consumers. Victims of the ongoing Fukushima nuclear crisis are not only residents near the crippled nuclear plant who have been forced to evacuate from their affected neighborhoods. My news coverage of the contamination of foods with radioactive substances leaking from the tsunami-hit Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant has uncovered that the crisis has fundamentally damaged mutual trust between local food producers including farmers and consumers. It came to light on July 8 that some beef was contaminated with radioactive cesium. The Tokyo Metropolitan Government examined beef from cows shipped from Minamisoma, Fukushima Prefecture, and detected cesium in excess of the permissible level.

The number of beef cows confirmed to have been tainted with the radioactive material sharply increased. Furthermore, it was learned that some meat from these cows had already been shipped to various areas across the country and even consumed. The source of the cesium has turned out to be rice straw that had been given to the animals as feed. A notice that the national government had sent to livestock farmers following the nuclear accident made no mention to the possibility that rice straw could be contaminated with radioactive materials from the plant. In late September, I visited a farmer that had shipped the rice straw, only to be turned back just as I expected. A neighbor said the farmer used an in-house power generator to maintain his barn and constantly look after the cattle, while most local residents had fled the neighborhood and the delivery of daily necessities and supplies necessary for farming had been suspended. Nonetheless, he was criticized by some news organizations for being primarily responsible for the contamination of beef.

While banners and stickers saying, "Hang in there, Fukushima!" are spotted across the country, numerous harmful rumors on Fukushima products can be found online. There are many rumors that are discriminatory to Fukushima and other messages slandering Fukushima people on the Internet. However, Minamisoma farmers should definitely not be blamed for the contamination. Rather, they are victims of the nuclear crisis, just like consumers who are sensitive about invisible radiation. I have still been unable to find the right answer on what and how I should report to help restore the mutual trust between producers and consumers. (By Eisuke Inoue, Tokyo City News Department)

The government ordered a complete ban Thursday on all shipments of beef cattle from Miyagi Prefecture after detecting radioactive cesium above the government limit in some local cattle.

The government is also considering placing a similar ban on beef cattle from Iwate Prefecture, where five cattle from Ichinoseki and Fujisawa have already been found contaminated with radioactive cesium exceeding the limit of 500 becquerels per kilogram. That decision is expected to come next week, sources said.

Eating 1 kg of the meat is roughly equal to a radiation dose of 82.65 microsieverts for a period during which radioactive cesium remains in one's body. If a person eats food with radioactive cesium, half the amount remains in the body for nine days for a baby younger than 1. But the duration gets longer as people age, and it takes 90 days for those aged 50. The 82.65 microsieverts compares with the 100 microsieverts of radiation a person would be exposed to during a one-way air trip from Tokyo to New York.

Where has tainted beef been sold? At various shops and restaurants in all prefectures except for Okinawa. Every cow has a 10-digit identification number and the Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Ministry can trace the buyers of beef from contaminated cows.

At what level of radiation does the government ban distribution of contaminated meat? For radioactive cesium in meat, eggs and fish, the maximum limit is 500 becquerels per kg, the same level as in the European Union and Thailand. That compares with 1,000 becquerels in Singapore and Hong Kong, 1,200 in the United States and 370 in South Korea and Taiwan, according to the "Food and Radiation" booklet produced by the Consumer Affairs Agency. There is no provisional maximum level of radioactive iodine for meat and eggs because its half-life is as short as eight days, compared with 30 years for cesium, and it takes longer than eight days from the time they are produced to the time they are eaten, according to the agency's booklet. The level of radioactive iodine found in beef is at most 50 becquerels per kg, according to the agriculture ministry.

The farm ministry unveiled new measures on Aug. 5 to help cattle farmers whose livestock were fed straw contaminated with radioactive cesium. The plan involves buying up all beef currently being stored in warehouses from around 3,500 head of cattle originating from farms in 17 prefectures. The total cost of the buy-up is expected to reach about 86 billion yen ($1.1 billion). If farmers are subsequently able to sell cattle from their farms or if they receive compensation for damages from Tokyo Electric Power Co., the operator of the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, they would be required to repay that amount to the government

According to other measures in the new package, the government will also: cover the storage costs for beef that has already been shipped from the four prefectures where the shipment ban has been enforced; buy up cattle that would move past the prime shipment period due to the ban; and provide funds of 50,000 yen per head of cattle to those farmers in 13 prefectures that test cattle for radiation, to cover expenses until shipments are resumed.

Foreign Minister Takeaki Matsumoto has committed an about-face on policy by telling his ministry to refrain from vouching for the safety of Japanese food. The ministry stance changed after radiation-tainted beef was found to have been sold to consumers nationwide, sources said. The contaminated meat is coming from cattle that were fed rice straw contaminated with cesium isotopes ejected by the disaster-crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.

To handle surging concerns abroad about the food supply, the Foreign Ministry told embassies and other diplomatic offices overseas to brief local authorities, importers and media organizations on measures the government is taking to prevent contaminated food from making it into public distribution channels. The ministry has also asked its diplomatic offices to repeat its stance of disclosing safety information in a timely manner.

On July 8, Matsumoto said that he wanted to dispel food safety concerns by explaining what the government is doing to prevent tainted food from making it into the food supply. But several countries have since asked about the beef scare after several cattle suspected of being fed tainted straw were found to have been slaughtered and their beef shipped to market months ago to stores and restaurants.

Nothing coming out of Japan makes sense any more, so this news is simply adding to that growing list. The national government will lift the ban on sales and shipment of meat cows raised in Fukushima and Miyagi Prefectures because the government is satisfied that the radioactive rice hay is now separated from other feed - either under the tarp or buried - so that it will not be fed to the cows. If I remember right, the worry was not the rice hay but the meat itself, which tested high in radioactive cesium all over Japan as the cows from these two prefectures (and several more in Tohoku) had been sold far and wide because of the suddenly "affordable" price. They were particularly favored by certain cost-conscious municipalities (most notably Yokohama City) that fed the suspected meat to the kindergarteners and school children in school lunches, ignoring protests from the parents. Humans eat beef not rice hay, as far as I know. But now the ban will be lifted because of ... rice hay storage procedure?

From Mainichi Shinbun (8/18/2011):

The Japanese government started to prepare for the total lifting of the shipping ban on meat cows raised in Fukushima and Miyagi Prefectures on August 18. The government will instruct the governors of the two prefectures as early as August 19. As radioactive cesium exceeding the provisional national safety limit (500 becquerels/kg) was found in the meat, the government banned the shipping of the cows in Fukushima, Miyagi, Iwate, and Tochigi Prefectures between July 19 and August 2. Fukushima and Miyagi would be the first to have the ban lifted.

Ever since the March 11 start of the Fukushima I Nuke Plant accident, unthinking, order-following school teachers and administrators throughout Japan from kindergarten/nursery school on (with a few exceptions) have made small children:

pick tea leaves which turned out to be highly radioactive (in one case in Ibaraki, they made them eat the tempura made out of the leaves);participate in outdoor PE classes with the threat that they wouldn't get good grades if they (or their parents) refuse;

clean the school yard, pulling weeds and sweeping;clean out the swimming pools with sludges which turned out to be highly radioactive;plant rice seedlings in rice paddies with bare feet (this was done throughout Japan, high radiation or not);

TEPCO to Install Second Water Decontamination System Plant Status Tokyo Electric Power Co. continues its attempts to decontaminate radioactive water that has collected in the basements of buildings and in drains at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear energy facility. With its current decontamination system operating at only 53 percent of capacity, TEPCO is planning to receive new water treatment equipment this week.  TEPCO will use the new system alongside the existing one

Industry/Regulatory/Political Issues The government of Japan will buy beef containing radioactive cesium that has reached the country’s distribution chain. NHK news service reports that more than 2,800 cattle that may have been fed radioactive rice straw have been shipped to 46 of 47 prefectures. The government will inspect the beef and buy any that contains higher-than-permissible levels of cesium.

Media Highlights NEI briefed financial analysts in New York July 26 on the U.S. nuclear energy industry’s response to the Fukushima Daiichi accident. The presentation is available in the Financial Center on NEI’s website. NEI President and CEO Marv Fertel appeared on CNBC prior to the briefing. Media coverage included Dow Jones Market Watch and a New York Times blog. NEI’s news release on the event is here.

Ooops. Amateur hour at the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare who thought testing one sample from the meat of one cow would be enough.According to Mainichi Shinbun, the Japanese authorities are finding out that the different parts of the same cow have different concentration of radioactive cesium. Not only that, the same part of the meat from the same cow can yield two different test results. That means even the meat that was tested and deemed "safe" (tested below 500 becquerels/kg of radioactive cesium) may not have been safe after all.

Before they actually started to measure, the prevailing opinion from the radiation experts was that radioactive cesium would get evenly distributed in the muscles throughout the body. Amateur hour at the radiation experts, too. (Now they are changing tunes.)So, no one knew, and no one knows what they're doing. I seem to fondly recall some of the words of Japan's consumer advocates - "the experts say it's safe...", or "why should we waste taxpayers' money testing all cows?", or "if only media did the good job of providing accurate information..." Amateur hours there, too.My message to consumers: caveat emptor.

Scientists and doctors are calling for a new national policy in Japan that mandates the testing of food, soil, water, and the air for radioactivity still being emitted from Fukushima's heavily damaged Daiichi nuclear power plant."How much radioactive materials have been released from the plant?" asked Dr Tatsuhiko Kodama, a professor at the Research Centre for Advanced Science and Technology and Director of the University of Tokyo's Radioisotope Centre, in a July 27 speech to the Committee of Health, Labour and Welfare at Japan's House of Representatives. "The government and TEPCO have not reported the total amount of the released radioactivity yet," said Kodama, who believes things are far worse than even the recent detection of extremely high radiation levels at the plant. There is widespread concern in Japan about a general lack of government monitoring for radiation, which has caused people to begin their own independent monitoring, which are also finding disturbingly high levels of radiation. Kodama's centre, using 27 facilities to measure radiation across the country, has been closely monitoring the situation at Fukushima - and their findings are alarming.According to Dr Kodama, the total amount of radiation released over a period of more than five months from the ongoing Fukushima nuclear disaster is the equivalent to more than 29 "Hiroshima-type atomic bombs" and the amount of uranium released "is equivalent to 20" Hiroshima bombs.

Kodama, along with other scientists, is concerned about the ongoing crisis resulting from the Fukushima situation, as well as what he believes to be inadequate government reaction, and believes the government needs to begin a large-scale response in order to begin decontaminating affected areas.Distrust of the Japanese government's response to the nuclear disaster is now common among people living in the effected prefectures, and people are concerned about their health.Recent readings taken at the plant are alarming.When on August 2nd readings of 10,000 millisieverts (10 sieverts) of radioactivity per hour were detected at the plant, Japan's science ministry said that level of dose is fatal to humans, and is enough radiation to kill a person within one to two weeks after the exposure. 10,000 millisieverts (mSv) is the equivalent of approximately 100,000 chest x-rays.

t is an amount 250 per cent higher than levels recorded at the plant in March after it was heavily damaged by the earthquake and ensuing tsunami. The operator of Japan's crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), that took the reading, used equipment to measure radiation from a distance, and was unable to ascertain the exact level because the device's maximum reading is only 10,000 mSv. TEPCO also detected 1,000 millisieverts (mSv) per hour in debris outside the plant, as well as finding 4,000 mSv per hour inside one of the reactor buildings.

Radioactive Beef Distributed Nationwide in Japan, Arirang, July 12, 2011: Various Japanese media outlets reported Tuesday that beef containing radioactive cesium was found to have been distributed nationwide, including major cities such as Tokyo and Osaka. Media reports say that some 190 kilograms of meat has already been distributed and a good amount has gone into the hands of Japanese consumers, leaving them, as well as the government, in shock. [...]

Radioactive meat circulating on Japanese market, CNN, July 12, 2011: A Japanese health official downplayed the dangers Tuesday after cesium contaminated meat from six Fukushima cows was delivered to Japanese markets and probably ingested. [...] Up until now, cattle in Fukushima were only subject to a screening test, to inspect for radioactive particles adhering to the skin, and farmers were ordered to self-report how it the cattle feed was being stocked. [...] On Saturday, the health and welfare office at Tokyo Metropolitan government found that meat from 11 cows from a Fukushima farm, which was about to be delivered, contained high levels of radiation. As a precaution, the office was ordered to trace meat from six cows from the same farm and realized that the meat is now circulating not only in Tokyo, but all over Japan.