Radioactive cesium nearly five times the government safety standard of 500 becquerels per kilogram was detected in beef from one of 15 cattle shipped by a farmer in Koriyama, Fukushima Prefecture.
Radioactive cesium nearly five times the government safety standard of 500 becquerels per kilogram was detected in beef from one of 15 cattle shipped by a farmer in Koriyama, Fukushima Prefecture.
Matsuyama city government officials said July 17 that 2,400 becquerels of cesium was found from beef sold at a supermarket in the city and recovered from a consumer.
Tokyo metropolitan government officials said the same day that 2,300 becquerels of cesium was found in beef from the same head of cattle, which was processed in Tokyo.
Fukushima prefectural government officials said July 16 that 84 cattle were shipped from five farms in Koriyama, Kitakata and Soma in the prefecture, after they were fed radioactive-contaminated straw.
Fukushima officials said July 18 that 411 cattle that were fed cesium-contaminated straw were shipped from seven other farms in the prefecture to Fukushima, Tokyo, Saitama, Tochigi, Gunma and Hyogo prefectures.
Beef found in Matsuyama and Tokyo on July 17 was the first found to contain cesium from among the initial 84 cattle.
Cesium levels of 500,000 becquerels per kg was found in straw at the Koriyama farm that shipped the cattle. The figure translates into pre-drying levels of 113,636 becquerels, about 380 times the government standard of 300 becquerels per kg.
Earlier, 48 cattle were shipped from Minami-Soma and Asakawa, both in Fukushima Prefecture, after they were fed radioactive-contaminated straw.
Beef from the 132 cattle was distributed in at least 37 prefectures, according to a survey by The Asahi Shimbun on July 17.
All the six cattle shipped from a farm in Minami-Soma were contaminated with radioactivity and up to 4,350 becquerels of cesium was found.
Eight of the 42 cattle shipped from a farm in Asakawa were contaminated and up to 2,100 becquerels of cesium was found.
The government headquarters to deal with the nuclear disaster, headed by Prime Minister Naoto Kan, is expected to order Fukushima Governor Yuhei Sato to suspend shipments of cattle from the prefecture as early as July 19.