#Radioactive Beef from Tochigi Prefecture - Discovery Follows Hayakawa Map

Prefectures surrounding Fukushima have reported the detection of radioactive cesium exceeding the provisional safety limit from the beef from the cows.

From Yomiuri Shinbun (1:57AM JST 7/23/2011):

栃木、岩手、宮城、秋田県は２２日、各県の農家から出荷された肉牛計６頭の肉から暫定規制値（１キロ・グラムあたり５００ベクレル）を超える放射性セシウムが検出されたと発表した。

On July 22, Tochigi, Iwate, Miyagi, and Akita Prefectures [separately] announced that radioactive cesium exceeding the provisional safety limit (500 becquerels/kg) was detected from the meat from 6 cows shipped from their prefectures.

厚生労働省などによると、これまで規制値を上回った肉牛はいずれも福島県産の３０頭。これで５県産の３６頭になった。

According to the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare and other government agencies, all 30 cows whose meat exceeded the provisional safety limit for cesium had been from Fukushima Prefectures. Now it is 36 cows from 5 prefectures.

　６頭のうち３頭は、栃木県那須塩原市の農家が７月１０日に出荷した。都内で食肉処理され、２２日に肉を検査した結果、同５６０～７６０ベクレルの セシウムが検出された。流通はしていない。飼料の稲わらは市内の近隣酪農家らが生産し、東京電力福島第一原発事故後も田に置かれていた。

Of the 6 cows, 3 were shipped from a cattle farm in Nasu Shiobara City in Tochigi Prefecture on July 10, and were processed into meat in Tokyo. The meat was tested on July 22, and 560 to 760 becquerels/kg of radioactive cesium was detected. The meat hasn't been sold in the market. The rice hay used as the feed was from nearby dairy farms in the same city, and the hay was left on the rice field even after the Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant accident.

　岩手県では、放射性物質に汚染された稲わらを食べた可能性がある牛８０頭について調査したところ、６月３０日に都内で食肉処理され、京都市に流通した１頭の肉から同１２１０ベクレルのセシウムが検出された。

Iwate Prefecture investigated 80 cows suspected of being fed with the contaminated rice hay, and found the meat from one cow to contain 1,210 becquerels/kg of cesium. The cow was processed on June 30 in Tokyo, and the meat was sold in Kyoto City.

I, and many who have been looking at the radiation contour map created by Professor Yukio Hayakawa (volcanologist at Gunma University), shouldn't be surprised at the discovery of contaminated beef from Nasu Shiobara City in Gunma Prefecture, more than 100 kilometers away from the nuke plant. I circled the location in red in the map:

Tweet