FUKUSHIMA--Nine kilograms of rice exceeding safety standards for radiation were sold to consumers, the Fukushima prefectural government said, as shipments of rice from two more districts in the prefecture were suspended.
FUKUSHIMA--Nine kilograms of rice exceeding safety standards for radiation were sold to consumers, the Fukushima prefectural government said, as shipments of rice from two more districts in the prefecture were suspended.
It was the first confirmation that rice containing radioactive cesium above the safety standards has been sold to the public.
The prefectural government on Nov. 28 asked the former Oguni village district and the former Tsukidate town district of Date, Fukushima Prefecture, to refrain from shipping rice after cesium exceeding government standards was detected.
The government on Nov. 29 told the prefectural governor to suspend shipments of rice harvested in the two districts this year, Chief Cabinet Secretary Osamu Fujimura said.
Samples from three farms in the two districts contained up to 1,050 becquerels of cesium per kilogram, above the government standard of 500 becquerels.
Nine kilograms of glutinous rice from the former Oguni village district were sold at a produce stand, according to prefectural government officials.
"We apologize for the inconvenience we caused to people who bought rice that exceeded government standards," Yoshihito Suzuki, who heads the prefectural government's agriculture, forestry and fishery department, told a news conference.
The government ordered a suspension of rice shipments from the Onami district of Fukushima city on Nov. 17 after 630 becquerels of cesium was found per kilogram.
The two districts of Date are located just east of the Onami district, which formerly belonged to Oguni village.
The prefectural government has begun inspecting samples from all farms in areas where high radiation levels were detected. The survey covers nine districts of Date and one district each in the cities of Fukushima, Soma and Iwaki.
In the former Oguni village district, 119 samples from 101 farms were inspected, and two samples contained 580 becquerels and 780 becquerels per kilogram each.
In the former Tsukidate town district, eight samples from six farms were inspected, and one sample contained 1,050 becquerels.
The prefectural government will add seven districts of Nihonmatsu and two districts of Motomiya to the survey.
"We will conduct surveys of rice in municipalities with high radiation levels and judge its safety based on the results," Suzuki said.