This Year's Tea from Shizuoka with 12.37 Bq/kg of #Radioactive Cesium, Measured the Old Way (Dry Leaves)

Whatever the national government or the prefectural governments (particularly the hilarious Shizuoka Prefecture with the Oxford-grad governor) say, the retailers are testing green tea the old way - measuring the dry leaves - for their customers.

Here's a notice from Green Co-op on May 14, 2012, informing the customers that the organic first-pick "Fukamushi" green tea from Shizuoka Prefecture 100-gram package was found with:

cesium-134: 4.98 bq/kg
cesium-137: 7.39 bq/kg
Total: 12.37 bq/kg

They also tested the liquid after the tea was brewed, according to the new guideline from the government, and the cesium levels were below detection levels.

Green Co-op's own safety standard, the notice says, is 10 becquerels/kg of cesium in dry leaves. This particular Shizuoka tea exceeded the standard, but after consulting the directors of the co-op the management decided to offer the tea to the customers anyway. The reason for offering it to the customers even if the level exceeded its own safety standard is not given.

For numbers comparing the radioactivity measured in dry leaves and measured in brewed tea, go to my April post, which shows last year's examples from Shizuoka Prefecture.

There are several brands of green tea in other prefectures that have tested close to 10 bq/kg in brewed tea. The highest so far this year is the tea from a town in Ibaraki Prefecture, which tested 9.3 bq/kg in brewed tea. If you apply the last year's numbers from Shizuoka Prefecture, the dry leaves may have between 700 and 1000 bq/kg of radioactive cesium, far exceeding the provisional safety limit of 500 bq/kg effective until April 1, 2012. But since it passes the test under the new method of measuring brewed tea, the tea passed the test with flying colors, and the Ibaraki prefectural government says it will negotiate with the national government for lifting the shipping ban.

Having looked at the prefectural government sites so far, there is none who measures the green tea the old way.

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