#Fukushima Peaches to Be Exported to Thailand, Starting Late August

Buyers from Thailand say they are satisfied with the testing procedure that the Fukushima prefectural government has in place.

To recap that testing method (for more details about peaches in Fukushima, see my previous post about Fukushima peaches offered to the Imperial Family):

• Take a small amount of sample from each peach farmer.

• Test it using the NaI scintillation survey meter with high detection limit (probably 25 becquerels/kg).

• If the sample registers more than 50 becquerels/kg, then test it with the germanium semiconductor detector that the prefectural government owns, again with relatively high detection limit (about 10 becquerels/kg).

• If the sample tested using the germanium semiconductor detector has less than 100 becquerels/kg, all clear!

Looking at the pictures of how they test using the NaI scintillation survey meter (click to enlarge), the sample size looks no more than 100 milliliters. Testing laboratories run by the citizens' groups in Japan and by private companies require at least 1 liter (1,000 milliliters) of samples to be effective, and they use the same or better NaI scintillation survey meters.

The article below from Fukushima Minpo says one additional thing and that's troubling; rice from Fukushima has been exported overseas AFTER the Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant accident. I wasn't aware of that news.

From Fukushima Minpo (8/10/2012):

県産モモ、今月下旬輸出　タイのバイヤーが県庁訪問

Peaches produced in Fukushima to be exported, starting late August; Buyers from Thailand visit the prefectural office

日本貿易振興機構（ジェトロ）がタイのバイヤーを招いた福島県産モモの商談会で９日、県産モモを今月下旬からタイへ輸出することが決まった。東京電力福島第一原発事故後、県産農産物を海外に輸出するのはコメに続き２例目で、モモは初めて。

It was agreed in the meeting with the buyers from Thailand invited by JETRO (Japan External Trade Organization) that peaches grown and harvested in Fukushima Prefecture will be exported to Thailand starting late August. This will be the second case of Fukushima produce to be exported overseas, after the Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant accident, following the rice; it will be the first for peaches.

輸入を決めたのは、タイの百貨店やスーパーのバイヤー。県北地区の果樹園で収穫されるモモを中心に、１０月上旬ごろまで輸出する予定。量は今後調整する。タイ政府が指定する日本国内の検査機関で放射性物質を検査し、安全性が確認され次第、空路で輸出する。

The buyers for department stores and supermarkets in Thailand decided to import [the peaches]. Peaches harvested mostly in the orchards in the northern district of Fukushima will be exported till early October. The amount of export will be determined between the parties. The peaches will be tested for radioactive materials at a laboratory in Japan designated by the Thai government, and as soon as the safety is confirmed they will be delivered by air.

バイヤー一行は９日、県庁を訪れ、担当者から放射性物質検査の状況や味の特徴の説明を受けた。バイヤーの一人は「福島での検査体制を視察し安全性を確信できた。タイでは日本の商品への信頼度が高い。おいしいモモなので、よりアピールしてたくさん売りたい」と意欲を語った。

The group of Thai buyers visited the prefectural government office on August 9, and was briefed on the situation of testing for radioactive materials and on the characteristics of the taste [of the peaches]. One of the buyers was eager to sell the peaches in Thailand, saying "I'm convinced of the safety after seeing the testing process in Fukushima. People in Thailand trust goods made in Japan. Peaches are delicious, and I'm looking forward to promoting and selling a lot of them."

バイヤーらは８日、伊達市の果樹園や郡山市の百貨店、県農業総合センターを訪れ、販売現場の様子や放射能問題への取り組みに理解を深めた。

On August 8, the buyers had visited an orchard in Date City, a department store in Koriyama City, and the prefectural agricultural experiment station. They observed how [the peaches] were sold, and how the testing for radioactive materials was done.

原発事故後、中国、韓国、台湾など東アジア各国は県産品の輸入を停止している。タイは震災前、県産のモモを輸入していた。

After the Fukushima nuclear accident, East Asian countries including China, Korea and Taiwan have stopped importing the produce from Fukushima Prefecture. Before the March 11, 2011 disaster, Thailand had been importing the peaches from Fukushima.

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180 Peaches from a Town in #Fukushima to Be Offered to the Imperial Household (Again)

Deja vu. Since they did exactly the same thing last year when the higher levels of radioactive cesium were being detected in peaches, why not this year, too?

As Yomiuri presents the story, the peach farmers in Koori-machi in Fukushima seems eager to use the Imperial Family as the endorsement of the safety of their peaches.

From Yomiuri Shinbun (8/8/2012):

皇室「献上桃」、１８０個厳選し箱詰め…福島

Fukushima - 180 hand-picked peaches packed, to be offered to Imperial Family

福島県桑折(こおり)町で８日、皇室への「献上桃」の選果と箱詰式が行われた。９日に皇室に献上される予定。

A ceremony to pick the peaches to be offered to the Imperial Family was conducted in Koori-machi in Fukushima Prefecture on August 8. The peaches will be presented to the Imperial Family on August 9.

作業は８日、同町のＪＡ伊達みらい桑折総合支店で行われた。町内で収穫された桃のうち、糖度や大きさなどの基準を満たした１０２０個から、形や色合いが特に優れた１８０個を厳選して箱詰めした。

The work was done at the JA Date Mirai Koori Branch on August 8. 1020 peaches were selected first from all the peaches harvested in the town which cleared the standards for sweetness and size. From those 1020 peaches, 180 was carefully hand-picked that were of particularly high physical beauty in terms of shape and color, and packed in the boxes.

同町は桃の産地として知られ、東京電力福島第一原発からは６０キロ・メートル以上離れているが、原発事故後は風評被害に悩まされ、同ＪＡによると、今年出荷した桃の価格も震災前に比べて７～８割に低迷しているという。大橋信夫組合長（６４）は「農家は皇室への献上を誇りにしている。風評被害に負けず頑張っていきたい」と話していた。

The town is well-known for its peaches. It is more than 60 kilometers away from TEPCO's Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant, but it has suffered baseless rumors after the nuclear accident. According to the JA Date Mirai, the prices of this year's peaches are about 70 to 80% of the pre-disaster prices. Co-op president [of the branch] Nobuo Ohashi (age 64) says, "Farmers are proud to be offering to the Imperial Family. We will fight the baseless rumors and do our best."

Baseless rumors. Many farmers and government officials in Fukushima have said "baseless rumor" to any detection of radioactive materials less than the government safety standards (first it was 500 becquerels/kg provisional limit, then the current 100 becquerels/kg, for cesium), even though the testing was "monitoring" - i.e. sampling - and less than 1% of vegetables shipped were tested at least initially.

So how "baseless" (radioactive) are the peaches from this particular town (Koori-machi) this year? According to the Fukushima prefectural government site, a government-funded organization is measuring the radiation of the peaches grown in Fukushima. It is still a sample monitoring, taking peaches from all peach growers in Fukushima. The measurement is done using NaI scintillation survey meter, and as long as there is no detection above 50 becquerels/kg, the organization declares it "safe".

For peaches from Koori-machi,

• No. of peaches tested: 739 (from 6/25 to 8/5/2012)

• No. of peaches with less than 25 Bq/kg of cesium: 727 (98%)

• No. of peaches 25 to 50 Bq/kg of cesium: 12 (2%)

(Screen capture of the test results for peaches in Koori-machi, from the Fukushima prefectural government webpage)

Koori-machi's percentage of peaches with cesium between 25 to 50 Bq/kg is the second highest among cities and towns whose peaches are being tested. (The highest percentage, 3%, is from Date City.)

They don't even know (or care to know) exactly how much below 25 Bq/kg.

There are a few tests of peaches from Koori-machi done by the prefectural government, using the germanium semiconductor detector. So far this year, two samples out of 6 tested positive for radioactive cesium, and the highest was 10.24 Bq/kg. Detection limits are rather high, between about 5 and 10 Bq/kg.

(Screen capture of the Fukushima Prefecture's "Fukushima Shin Hatsubai" search result of the sampling tests of peaches in Koori-machi, in English)

The tweet with the link to this Yomiuri article was tweeted by someone I follow, a university researcher who has been vigorously testing the everyday food items that are being sold in the marketplace and cautioning people. He tweeted the link, and and his comment was "With no comment".

I've read anecdotes of farmers in Fukushima, shyly offering visitors if they would like to try their pickled vegetables (or any other food items) that they grew and made, saying "Only if you want to try, we have it tested and there was no radioactive material". I think it's a sad, painful story. But the farmers in the above Yomiuri article don't seem to have any problem, pushing their produce to the Imperial Family which has small children.

Oh yes it's all because of TEPCO's accident, and the farmers are victims.

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34 Bq/kg of Radioactive Cesium from Peach Juice from Date City, #Fukushima

(From @tomynyo on Twitter)

34 becquerels/kg of radioactive cesium found from a can of peach juice from last year's crop that was on sale recently. Not to worry, it is under the new and stricter safety standard of 100 becquerels/kg set by the national government of Japan, so much safer than the international standard, says the Minister of Agriculture.

On the can, it says:

Straight (meaning the juice is not the blend)

Fukushima

Blessings of Peach (桃の恵み）

100% Juice

JA Date Mirai (name of the agriculture producer co-op in Date City, Fukushima; "mirai" is "future" in Japanese)

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Fukushima Peaches to Be Pushed by Fukushima City Junior High School Students

Now the adults in Fukushima Prefecture are using school children to push Fukushima produce to the rest of the country.

Students from a junior high school in Fukushima City in Fukushima will promote locally-grown peaches in Yokohama, where they will spend 3 days on their school trip. According to the Kanagawa Shinbun article below, the students are indignant that the local peach growers are suffering because of the "baseless rumor" that their peaches are radioactive.

They are radioactive, actually, and that's according to Fukushima Prefecture's measurement. But since the level (64 becquerels/kg) is far less than the national provisional safety limit (500 becquerels/kg), the students, along with their parents and teachers no doubt, consider it as "baseless rumor", that the fickle, unreasonable consumers in big cities are causing the suffering.

From Kanagawa Shinbun (8/28/2011):

原発事故の風評被害で売り上げが落ち込んだ名産のモモをＰＲしようと、福島市立平野中学校（同市飯坂町平野）の３年生が30日、修学旅行で訪れる横浜・山下公園でキャンペーンを行う。手作りののぼり旗やパンフレットで安全性を訴え、朝取りのモモを無料で配布する。

The seniors at Hirano Junior High School (Hirano District, Iizaka-machi in Fukushima City) will conduct a PR campaign in Yamashita Park in Yokohama City on August 30 to promote peaches grown in their town. Fukushima is well-known for peaches, but the sales has plummeted because of the "baseless rumor" after the nuclear power plant accident. The students are visiting Yokohama on their school trip. Using handmade banners and pamphlets, they will appeal safety, and distribute freshly picked peaches for free.

　同校のある平野地区は、果樹地帯で観光果樹園が盛ん。例年は首都圏からも多くの観光客が訪れるというが、ことしは福島第１原発事故の影響で、モモ狩りに訪れる観光客は例年の１割、予約注文も３割と大幅に減少しているという。

Their school is located in Hirano District [in Iizaka-machi in Fukushima City], a well-known fruit-growing region with many orchards for tourists. In normal years many visitors go there from the Tokyo metropolitan area to pick peaches. This year, however, because of the Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant accident, the number of tourists has dropped by 90% and the orders for peaches have dropped by 70%.

　福島県の検査では、平野地区産のモモから検出された放射性セシウムは最高でも１キログラム当たり64ベクレル。国の暫定基準値（５００ベクレル）を下回る。「風評被害だ」と感じた３年生は、「自分たちを育ててくれた地域の人たちが苦しんでいる。応援したい」と２泊３日の修学旅行で訪問する横浜で、モモのキャンペーンを企画した。名付けて「福島は負けない～食べてくなんしょ福島の桃」。

According to the survey by the Fukushima prefectural government, the maximum amount of radioactive cesium detected from peaches grown in Hirano District is 64 becquerels/kg, far below the national provisional limit of 500 becquerels/kg. The seniors at Hirano Junior High felt it [that tourist stop visiting and people not buying the peaches in Hirano] was "baseless rumor" causing the suffering of the people in the area where they grew up. So, they planned a PR campaign to promote the town's peaches in Yokohama where they were going to visit on their 3 days 2 nights school trip. The campaign is dubbed "福島は負けない～食べてくなんしょ福島の桃 Fukushima will never be defeated - please eat Fukushima's peaches [said in Fukushima dialect]".

　夏休み中の登校日の26日には、横浜で配布するパンフレットやメッセージカードを作成。修学旅行実行委員会の佐藤希委員長（14）は「福島のモモは安全だと、自分たちの言葉で伝えたい」と話す。

On August 26 at school, they made pamphlets and cards that they will distribute in Yokohama. The 14-year-old chairperson for the school trip organizing committee said, "Fukushima's peaches are safe, and we want to convey that message with our own words".

　30日午後５時半から山下公園（横浜市中区山下町）で、３年生約70人が手作りののぼり旗や横断幕を掲げて地元の特産品をＰＲする。当日の朝収穫した今が旬の品種「川中島白桃」１５０袋（各２個入り）を、福島県知事と福島市長の「安全宣言」と一緒に無料で配布する。　

70 seniors from the school will launch their PR campaign from 5:30PM on August 30 in Yamashita Park (Yamashita-cho, Naka-ku in Yokohama City) with handmade banners to promote local produce [peaches]. They will distribute 150 bags (each bag will contain 2 peaches) of "Kawanakajima Hakuto [white peach]" peaches, freshly picked that morning [and rushed to the park] along with the "safety declaration" by the Fukushima governor and the mayor of Fukushima City.

It sort of makes you lose hope in the next generation.

300 peaches, each weighing, probably 200 grams, so it's 60 kilograms total. 64 becquerels/kg times 60 kilograms - 3,840 becquerels of radioactive cesium right there.

Yokohama City, which already made kindergarteners and school children eat radioactive beef, should have no reason to question the campaign.

The Fukushima governor's safety declaration looks like this:

All it says is the produce has tested below the provisional safety limit. His smiling face is supposed to assure consumers.

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