#Radioactive Tea from TOKYO: 3 Exceeding Provisional Safety Limit for Cesium

550 to 690 becquerels/kg of radioactive cesium detected in the commercial teas grown in 3 tea plantations in Tokyo. The Tokyo Metropolitan government tested 30 teas in early October, and radioactive cesium was detected from 29 of them.

Back in May, three elementary school in Itabashi-ku, Tokyo had the pupils pick radioactive tea leaves (2,700 becquerels/kg of radioactive cesium) as part of their social studies activities. But that wasn't, apparently, a big deal since it was not a commercial product.

Mainichi Shinbun (10/18/2011):

東京都は１８日、都内の３茶園で栽培された東京狭山茶から、国の暫定規制値（１キロ当たり５００ベクレル）を超える５５０～６９０ベクレルの放射性セシウムを検出したと発表した。都内で流通を目的にした製茶からの検出は初。

Tokyo Municipal government announced on October 18 that 550 to 690 becquerels/kg of radioactive cesium, exceeding the national provisional safety limit of 500 becquerels/kg, was detected from the "Tokyo Sayama-cha" tea from three tea plantations in Tokyo. It is the first time radioactive cesium was detected from commercial teas grown in Tokyo.

　都産業労働局によると、該当の茶葉は武蔵村山市、瑞穂町、あきる野市の３茶園で５月ごろに摘まれた。一部を生産農家が消費したが流通はしておらず、計５００キロは茶園が保管しているという。都は各茶園に対し廃棄を要請した。

According to the Tokyo Metropolitan Bureau of Industry and Labor, the teas were picked in May at three tea plantations in Musashi Murayama City, Mizuho-machi, and Akiruno City. Part of the teas was consumed by the growers themselves but the rest haven't been sold yet. The tea plantations store 500 kg, which the Tokyo government has requested them to discard.

Discard how? Dump them in a garbage can as regular garbage, I suppose, since the radiation level is "low".

It was not until October 6 that the Tokyo Metropolitan government conducted a more extensive testing of the green teas grown, picked, and processed in Tokyo in May, after it learned of the teas grown in neighboring Saitama and Chiba Prefectures found with radioactive cesium exceeding the provisional safety limit.

If you look at the Tokyo government announcement, radioactive cesium was detected in significant amount in ALL but one teas tested. However, except for the three that exceeded the provisional safety limit, they can be sold without any restriction, and probably have been already sold. (The image of the announcement below is from savechild.net, with highlight on teas in which radioactive cesium was detected.)

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