Radioactive Beef Bento Was Sold on Shinkansen Bullet Trains

Internal radiation spreads far and wide in Japan, as if external one is not enough. Or I should say, "Now they are telling us", when it is too late. Many people already ate the meat from the meat cows that have been only discovered recently to have been fed with radioactive rice hay.

Even the Shinkansen bullet trains were instrumental in spreading the contamination.

JR Tokai announced that the beef from Asakawa-machi in Fukushima Prefecture was used in bento (lunch box) sold on Shinkansen (bullet train). Nothing left of the meat, so no way to test it.

The rice hay from Asakawa-machi has been found to contain the maximum of 97,000 becquerels/kg of radioactive cesium.

By the way, the highest level of radioactive cesium in the rice hay was found in Motomiya City in Fukushima Prefecture, and it was 690,000 becquerels/kg. Motomiya City is located about 57 kilometers west of Fukushima I Nuke Plant. No word yet on what happened to the meat cows that ate the rice hay there.

The government and government-sponsored scholars say there is no need to overly concerned even if you eat the beef that contains radioactive cesium far exceeding the hastily-set provisional safety limit. Just remember, they have no proof. Research on internal radiation is sketchy at best, and was outright prohibited particularly in Japan after the two nuclear bombs at the end of the World War II and after the Dai-Go Fukuryu Maru incident (Bikini Atoll Operation Castle Bravo).

(Well, that would be whole another post.)

From Asahi Shinbun (12:53AM JST 7/21/2011):

　ジェイアール東海パッセンジャーズ（本社・東京都）は２０日、東海道新幹線の車内などで販売した弁当に高濃度の放射性セシウムが検出された稲わらを食べ た牛の肉を使っていたと発表した。使用した肉は３４キロ（約３８７食分）で、いずれも福島県浅川町産。弁当は販売済みだという。

JR Tokai Passengers (headquartered in Tokyo) announced on July 20 that the meat from the cow fed with the rice hay found with high radioactive cesium was used in bento (lunch box) sold on the Shinkansen bullet trains. 34 kilograms of beef from Asakawa-machi, Fukushima Prefecture was used in about 387 bento boxes, which were all sold.

　問題の肉が使われた商品は「牛すき重」と「牛すき（直巻きおにぎり）」。同社の東京と名古屋の工場で製造され、６月１７日から今月１日にかけて東海道新幹線の車内、東京、品川、新横浜、名古屋各駅とリニア・鉄道館（名古屋市）の売店で販売された。

The bento menus for which the beef in question were used are "Beef Sukiyaki" and "Beef Sukiyaki Onigiri (rice ball)". They were prepared in the company's factories in Tokyo and Nagoya, and were sold from June 17 till July 1 on the Tokaido Shinkansen, at JR stations (Tokyo, Shinagawa, Shin-Yokohama, Nagoya) and at a kiosk at the SCMAGLEV and Railway Park in Nagoya City.

　対象の牛の検査は実施されていないため、暫定規制値を超える放射性セシウムを含んでいるかはわからないという。

No test was conducted on the cow, and there is no way of knowing whether the beef contained radioactive cesium that exceeded the provisional safety limit.

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