Thursday, February 9, 2012

2077 Bq/Kg of Radioactive Cesium from Dried Shiitake "Made in Japan"

Sure. Iwate Prefecture is Japan alright. Since the company who packaged the dried shiitake claims it has mixed shiitake harvested in different parts of Japan (never mind that they did say the shiitake are mostly from Iwate Prefecture), the label can claim "made in Japan".

The photo is from the press release from Yokohama City. (Click to enlarge.)

From Sankei Shinbun Kanto local version (2/9/2012):

セシウム基準値4倍超え乾燥シイタケ、横浜のスーパーで7袋販売 

7 packets of dried shiitake mushrooms with radioactive cesium 4 times the provisional safety standard sold in Yokohama supermarket

横浜市は9日、港北区内のスーパーで販売されていた袋入り乾燥シイタケから、食品衛生法の定める暫定基準値1キロ当たり500ベクレルの4倍を超える同2077ベクレルの放射性セシウムを検出したと発表した。すでに7袋が販売されており、市は出荷した加工業者のある静岡県に通報、販売したスーパーに回収を指示した。

Yokohama City announced on February 9 that 2,077 becquerels/kg of radioactive cesium was detected from dried mushrooms sold at a supermarket in Kohoku-ku in the city. The provisional safety limit is 500 becquerels/kg. 7 packets have already been sold. The city notified Shizuoka Prefecture where the packaging company is located, and ordered the supermarket to recall the packets.

 独自に調査した市民からの通報を受け市が9日に検査した。高濃度のセシウムが検出されたのはスーパーチェーン「ビッグヨーサン」の綱島樽町店が販売していた賞味期限が来年1月10日の乾燥シイタケの袋詰め「小粒どんこ」。静岡県藤枝市の「大塚フード」が80グラムずつ袋詰めして出荷した同スーパーの専売品。加工業者によると、乾燥シイタケの産地は主に岩手県という。

After being notified by a citizen who measured the radioactivity [of this dried shiitake] on his own, the city conducted its testing on February 9. The Tsunashima-Tarumachi store of a supermarket chain "Big Yosun" sold these mushrooms with effective date of 1/10/2013. Otsuka Food located in Fujieda City in Shizuoka Prefecture packaged the mushrooms in 80 gram packets, which was sold exclusively at the supermarket chain. According to the packaging company, the mushrooms are mostly from Iwate Prefecture.

 スーパーによると、綱島樽町店では20袋を入荷し、うち7袋を販売。ほか2店でも店頭に並んだが、購入者はいないという。

According to the supermarket chain, their Tsunashima-Tarumachi store had purchased 20 packets, and sold 7 packets. 2 other stores also had the packets but none of them have been sold, according to the chain.

市によると、この乾燥シイタケをそのまま80グラム食べた場合の人体への被曝(ひばく)線量は、最も大きい0歳で0・003833ミリシーベルト。13歳以上では0・0025724ミリシーベルトと推計され、水で戻した場合の放射性セシウム濃度は、おおむね10分の1になるとみられる。

According to the city, if one eats 80 grams of this dried shiitake the internal radiation for 0-year-old would be 0.003833 millisievert, and 0.0025724 millisievert for people 13 years old and older. It is considered that if you re-hydrate the shiitake, the density of radioactive cesium would drop to about one-tenth.

 厚生労働省が来年度の施行に向けてまとめた食品中の放射性物質に関する新たな基準値案では、食品による内部被曝線量の限度を年間1ミリシーベルト以下としている。

According to the new safety standard guidelines that the Ministry of Health and Labour has compiled to take effect in the new fiscal year [starting on April Fool's Day], the internal radiation exposure limit is 1 millisievert per year or less.

As if 80 grams of dried shiitake from Iwate with radioactive cesium is all you eat the whole year.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

I wrote about this before but since your latest report of observations from a scientist I feel some better. Late last year I was on a visa run in Hong Kong and on the weekend at the grocery they were handing out samples of foods. I carelessly accepted a sample of something the lady was handing out and after the goody was in my mouth and on its way the lady said "Mushrooms from Japan. Very good". Well, I've lived in fear all of these weeks later until I read about the earthworms and their castings here on your blog. I'm glad to know about the castings but I really hope the lady was just messing with me as it seems people can see me coming from a mile away. I don't have the means to be tested but if I were they'd probably find all kinds of terrible things not related to Fukushima but more likely something from my ex in Tokyo or the one in China or back home or even more likely chain smoking, nose picking and drinking for most of my life.

Chibaguy said...

Well, I do not know if it is that I am just paying to labels more and more, but produce is starting to be label strangly here. More labels say made in Japan instead on indicating where they are from. Some labels refer you to a code in which one must have a computer to figure out where it is from. The ground beef is labelled as coming from Autralia and Japan for some reason.

arevamirpal::laprimavera said...

@anon at 3:56PM, for added kick, switch to cigarettes by JT come April.

And don't eat mushrooms from Japan. The one in the article happened to be found because someone went to the supermarket with his personal survey meter measuring dried mushrooms.

@Chibaguy, that ground beef is likely to be a mix of Australian beef and Japanese beef ground in Japan.

Anonymous said...

I cast like a cow so I think I will be ok. I read your post about the Japanese grown tobacco as well. I have to find out where my tobacco comes from as I do most of my casting in Taiwan. I certainly need a survey meter. Everyone needs one these days. Thank you again for all of your work.

Anonymous said...

I don't buy any processed food, drive into the country and buy vegetables from local markets, and only eat fish that I personally bought from the fishing port between Tango and Shimane. I don't trust any labels. This may sound harsh, but look up Chenobyl and you will understand my concern.

Anonymous said...

@Anon at 8:33PM, watch out for those fish. They could come from the Pacific Ocean side.

Anonymous said...

If anyone is interested have a look at this detailed analysis of fallout and the passage of the plume back in March last year, the report was done in Norway.

https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0B-lM5qg9ztErMTYyM2JlOTUtYzFmYi00ZDdlLWFiZTYtMzhlZDg1MTkyNjRi

From page 32 onwards it details fallout in Japan, Worth a read..

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