April 27, 2011

South Korean milk, seafood clear of radioactive contamination

South Korea's milk and seafood products are proven safe from radioactive materials despite the discovery of trace levels of radionuclides in the air and rainwater, the government stated Tuesday (Apr 26).

The examination of food products comes amid concerns over radiation from Japan's crippled Fukushima nuclear power station. South Korea has confirmed small amounts of radioactive iodine and cesium, as well as xenon gas from March 27 onwards, with levels starting to fall in recent weeks.

The Ministry for Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries said it had found no detectable concentrations of radioactive iodine and cesium in 80 different samples of raw milk produced by dairy cows from April 7 through April 19.

The milk samples were collected from 12 different regions mainly on the east coast that lies closest to Japan, as well as Jeju Island that has large numbers of milk cows.

The ministry also checked 16 different types of fish and seafood products in waters around the Korean Peninsula, detecting no radioactive contaminants.

Fish such as flounder, herring, saury, various shellfish and seaweed products were checked up till late last week with no abnormal radioactive contaminants being discovered, the ministry said.

The ministry, meanwhile, said that it will continue to screen local food products for contamination in the coming weeks to alleviate public concerns and will release its findings in real-time on the Internet.