July 19, 2011

 

Japan discovers more cattle connected to contaminated feed

 

 

Officials from Fukushima Prefecture said on Monday (Jul 18) 411 more cattle plausibly affected by radioactive cesium have been shipped within the prefecture and to other areas of Japan, an issue that will increase food safety fears among consumers throughout the country.

 

The prefectural government said the additional beef cattle found to have eaten rice straw contaminated with cesium came from seven farms in six municipalities in the prefecture, bringing the total number of potentially contaminated cattle shipped from Fukushima for consumption to 554. The finding comes amid concerns that some of Japan's biggest supermarket chains have been selling beef from the cows.

 

The local government added that the rice straw was found to contain up to 690,000 becquerels per kilogramme of cesium, more than 500 times the government's safety limit.

 

After weeks of reassurance from the government that adequate measures are in place to ensure food from the region near the stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear reactor is safe, the sudden rise in both the number of cattle that ate contaminated feed and the levels of cesium detected in the straw will exacerbate concerns over food safety and the government's handling of another key post-disaster issue.

 

It is still not clear if the eating of contaminated feed necessarily leads to contamination of the cattle that eat it, or people who eat the resulting beef, but the lack of clarity will do little to reassure consumers who learned Monday that a few outlets of some of the nation's largest supermarket chains have sold beef processed from the cattle.

 

Supermarket operator Ito-Yokado Co., part of Seven & I Holdings Co. (3382.TO), said it sold 41.7kg of beef from a cow shipped from Fukushima Prefecture and contaminated with radioactive cesium at two of its outlets in Chiba Prefecture early in July. The contamination was detected by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government.

 

Ito-Yokado has suspended sales of Fukushima-produced beef.

 

Another supermarket operator, Aeon Co. (8267.TO), said Monday it sold meat from cows shipped from Fukushima that were given straw contaminated with radioactive cesium.

 

Aeon said about 16.6kg of the meat was sold in Nagoya in late April, and another 12.6kg in Sanda, Hyogo Prefecture, in early May.

 

Both companies vowed to conduct better inspections.

 

The spread of potentially contaminated beef around the nation and to some of its best known stores will likely intensify pressure on the government to ban all cattle shipments from Fukushima and even neighbouring prefectures as well.

 

Japanese authorities already said Sunday (Jul 17) that they intend to ban cattle shipments from Fukushima Prefecture, and possibly wider areas, as more animals have been identified as having consumed feed contaminated with radioactive cesium released from the nuclear power plant.

 

Besides Fukushima, radioactive cesium-contaminated rice straw has also been found in Miyagi Prefecture, north of Fukushima, and Niigata Prefecture, at farms supplied with Miyagi-produced straw. The Niigata local government said 24 cows that may have been fed contaminated straw have been shipped and is currently trying to track where they went.