Cattle fed on locally grown straw in Iwate, Miyagi and Tochigi prefectures were contaminated with radioactive cesium exceeding government safety standards, prefectural government officials announced July 22.
Cattle fed on locally grown straw in Iwate, Miyagi and Tochigi prefectures were contaminated with radioactive cesium exceeding government safety standards, prefectural government officials announced July 22.
The latest announcement indicates that districts relatively distant from the stricken Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant may have been directly affected by nuclear fallout.
Meat from one cow raised on local straw in the southernmost part of Iwate Prefecture, more than 150 kilometers from the Fukushima reactors, contained 1,210 becquerels of radioactive cesium per kilogram. That is more than double the government's safety limit of 500 becquerels per kilogram.
The beef was shipped to Tokyo at the end of June and later distributed to Kyoto.
Three cows raised in Tochigi Prefecture on Tochigi straw were shipped to Tokyo from a livestock farmer in Nasushiobara on July 10 but not distributed to consumers. Nasushiobara is about 100 km from the nuclear plant.
Meat from a cow raised in Miyagi Prefecture and raised on straw from the prefecture contained 1,150 becquerels per kilogram. It was not distributed to consumers.
All cattle shipments from Fukushima Prefecture are currently suspended because contamination was found in both cattle and straw in the prefecture. The latest revelations may prompt an extension of restrictions to Iwate, Miyagi and Tochigi prefectures.
The contamination in the three cattle from Tochigi Prefecture was detected after a meat wholesaler in Saitama Prefecture checked a sample of meat with a portable radiation meter. The wholesaler reported the excessive levels to the Tokyo metropolitan government July 21 and Tokyo officials checked meat from three cows shipped from the same livestock farmer. They recorded 560 to 760 becquerels of cesium per kilogram in the meat.
The Miyagi case was discovered by a wholesaler in Tokyo employing independent experts to check its stock. It reported the measurements to a public health center in Tokyo on July 22.
Meanwhile, the meat of one of nine cattle shipped by two livestock farmers in Akita Prefecture was found to contain 520 becquerels of cesium per kilogram. The animals had been fed straw from Miyagi Prefecture, officials of the Akita prefectural government said July 22. The meat has not been sold to consumers.
In Fukushima Prefecture, radioactive cesium exceeding safety standards was detected in meat from 30 animals as of July 21.
According to 2009 statistics, 36,807 head of beef cattle were shipped from Iwate Prefecture, 33,303 from Miyagi Prefecture, 7,276 from Akita Prefecture and 55,353 from Tochigi Prefecture.