FUKUSHIMA--The central government has ordered Fukushima Prefecture to suspend shipments of rice from the Onami district of the provincial capital after radioactive cesium exceeding national safety standards was detected in grain harvested there.
FUKUSHIMA--The central government has ordered Fukushima Prefecture to suspend shipments of rice from the Onami district of the provincial capital after radioactive cesium exceeding national safety standards was detected in grain harvested there.
The shipment ban was announced by Chief Cabinet Secretary Osamu Fujimura at a Tokyo news conference on Nov. 17.
A day earlier, officials from the Fukushima prefectural government confirmed that up to 630 becquerels per kilogram of radioactive cesium was found in rice harvested in Onami this autumn. No rice from the same farm has been sold at markets, they added.
The prefectural government requested all 154 farms in the Onami district to refrain from shipping rice ahead of the central government's announcement.
According to the prefectural government, cesium in excess of the safety standard of 500 becquerels per kg was detected in 840 kg of the Koshihikari brand harvested from 0.26 hectares of paddies. The rice had been kept at the farmer's house and in a storehouse of the agricultural cooperative.
On Nov. 14, the farmer, before asking the agricultural cooperative to keep the rice, asked the cooperative to check for radiation. After a cursory analysis indicated a breach of the safety standard, the prefectural government held a full inspection of the rice on Nov. 15, which revealed 630 becquerels of cesium per kg of brown rice, and 300 becquerels of the radioactive substance per kg of polished rice.
The rice came from paddies along a river in a mountainous region, a prefectural government official said.
Earlier, Fukushima Prefecture screened rice for possible radioactive contamination in two stages: preliminary pre-harvest inspections and main post-harvest inspections.
Fukushima Governor Yuhei Sato issued a "declaration of safety" on Oct. 12, when all samples were found to have fallen within the safety limit, and all areas became eligible for rice shipments.
"For the moment, only rice produced in areas where no cesium was detected is allowed to be circulated, so we think it's safe," said a prefectural government official.
According to the prefectural government, the JA Group of agricultural cooperatives is allowing only rice from areas where the main inspections detected no cesium to be circulated in the market. Rice produced in areas where any cesium was detected, even in small quantities, is kept in storehouses apart from rice from areas of no cesium detection, the prefectural government said.
Also, private wholesalers are buying rice only from areas of no cesium detection, so there is little chance that any rice exceeding the safety level has circulated in the market, the prefectural government said.
In the Onami district, the main inspections had turned out about 30 becquerels of cesium per kg of brown rice from two sampled paddies. No rice produced by any of the 154 farms in the district should therefore have been circulated by channels of the agricultural cooperative or private wholesalers, including the batch of rice that was found to exceed the safety standard in the latest revelation.
There are, however, other channels of rice circulation, including direct sales by farmers to retailers. The prefectural government is investigating circulation channels with all farms in the Onami district. Of the 86 farms surveyed, four are found to have sold 30 bags, or 1 ton, of rice to local retailers.