Fukushima peaches go on sale at London luxury department store Harrods

Those of us who live in Japan fortunately have many other sources for exceptional peaches — Nagano, Yamanashi, and Yamagata to name three.

Nagano, Yamanashi, and Yamagata to name three.

I haven't bought anything from Fukushima since that fateful day. Yes, plenty of other food.

Having said that, safe or not, I am not about to spend 80 pounds for three peaches. Total rip-off.

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Pukey2Today 04:42 pm JST

I haven't bought anything from Fukushima since that fateful day.

I have.

And I haven't died once.

I am having a Iwate peach tonight grown at the Ringo Boubou Kitatda, Kurokawa Iwate. Just taken of the tree at 13:00. Now resting in cooler. Pick it myself. Perfect form and size ripen to the hour. Cost zero.

Harrod shoppers never worry about prices. Not worth £80 for three.

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I am not sure why people, including the ones in here, are downplaying the seriousness of radiation and its effects on the environment and also crops.

The Radiation live maps, are clearly showing that Fukushima is still very much a hot spot, even if the Japanese government is trying to lie to the world and hide it.

You don't have to trust me, just check the live data from the https://map.safecast.org/?y=37.34&x=142.07&z=8&l=0&m=0

and you can decide for yourself if it is safe for you to eat anything produced there.

Seriously, it is your life and your health people.

Did you know that every single bag of rice from Fukushima is tested?

According to the Ministry of Environment’s own website, “random monitoring” has occurred from fiscal 2020 onwards.

Food from other prefectures, some that received high radiation doses do not have any food tested. Fukushima is a large prefecture and more than 75% of the land mass wasn't contaminated.

DanteKH: I don,t disbelieve you: But how much and over what time and time between first getting expose and death. Maybe 50 years if you eat nothing but Fukushima produces. So watch young one's 40 and under.

Were they informed they are from Fukushima? Or did they just say they are from Japan?

The UK government would not allow the sale of the peaches if they were not safe to eat.

You really must be joking! No peach in Japan anywhere matches Italian or Israeli peaches. ¥15,000 for three!

Data

some prefectures catch up during the rest of the year I guess. But I can see why some prefectures are turning in very low test numbers, or none at all. Let's not pretend that it is purposeful to test onions from Hyogo for Cesium-137, shall we? :)

I agree but it could be important when Hyogo exports the onions. Those are the onions we eat usually from Awaji and very good ones too.

@Data My bad LoL!

It’s not like the peaches imported into the UK are desperately poor. Paying 80 sovs for 3 peaches shows there’s still more money than sense in the UK.

England imports the best fruits and vegetables from all the world and there are clients with the financial power to pay for the best, whatever be the price. I had the privilege to work as an imports executive to attend Tesco, Sainsbury's, Marks & Spencer, Safeway, Asda, etc. Harrod's is upper class, luxury. Japanese fruits, peaches, are delicious, do deserve to be sold in the best shops

Bertiewooster: It not the country of origin who produces the optimum quality. It a mix of soil quality for the type of ag produce. Plus variety conducive to the temps and element of the area of climate. Most peach orchards need cold winter and these areas are mostly frost affected. To reduce damage from frost helicopter are deployed at an optimum hight and time of morning. I can tell and taste the difference between an orchard that has not employ a helicopter to one that has.

Having said that, safe or not, I am not about to spend 80 pounds for three peaches. Total rip-off.

let me hug you, my friend

this deliciousness perhaps will be available for free once upon a time in paradise:) until then im gonna eat resonably priced peaches that lack nothing in their authenticity :)

Great to see! Harrods is one of the best depato in the world.

$50 per peach is actually good value.

Fukushima peaches are probably the best in the world.

13 odd years have passed after the massive release of radiation from Fukushima that was liberallydispersed all over and as far as Tokyo with warnings to use umbrellas in the event of rainfall.

Numerous studies on insect life and plants have clearly shown genetic damage from radioactive particles.

The effects on humans have web downplaymes and suppressed by the governent.

Radiating particles from Uranium to Plutonium to Cesium don’t suddenly disappear do they?

Thanks but I would not touch Fukushima produce with a barge pole

Fighto; totally agree on what is available on the market. World best and world best practice; But there is but ; about 30 years ago they propagated a dwarf variety for the home grower and sugar content and taste is very similar to a mango; It the best I have every tasted apart from Fukushima Peachs. Peaches need cold subsoil during winter to grow and produce: The dwarf peach roots system don't reach down far enough and die off after three crops and the first crop is the 2nd year will produce 20 to 30 and this declines to 5 in the 4 year. So not commerical viable be farmed. There a pattern of peach tree and cost per tree is around th $50 USD, so get very expensive replanting every 2-3 years.

@ John-san - well said, mate.

Let my uncle Winston know about this and he’s going to try, he lives quite locally in Battersea you see.

falseflagsteve

Let my uncle Winston know about this and he’s going to try, he lives quite locally in Battersea you see.

Must be rich if he can shop at Harrods.

kurisupisuToday 09:06 pm JST

Numerous studies on insect life and plants have clearly shown genetic damage from radioactive particles.

Please link these studies. I'd like to read them.

FYI, the official IAEA report said this:

....

https://www.iaea.org/publications/10962/the-fukushima-daiichi-accident

[P15] Radiological consequences for non-human biota

No observations of direct radiation induced effects in plants and animals have been reported, although limited observational studies were conducted in the period immediately after the accident. There are limitations in the available methodologies for assessing radiological consequences, but, based on previous experience and the levels of radionuclides present in the environment, it is unlikely that there would be any major radiological consequences for biota populations or ecosystems as a consequence of the accident.

....

The effects on humans have web downplaymes and suppressed by the governent.

Any evidence for this assertion?

Fukushima resident here. I can assure you for products from here are fine.

Because people with money tend to be smart, and smart people know the science and know how to separate the wheat from the chaff, and in this case are willing to put their money where their mouth is. It’s a rare trait in this modern world and a great example of consumer activism in the right direction.

The customers that buy this also have the value added real bonus of helping an entire region trying to find its feet again after a horrid ordeal that they have fought skin and bone to try and survive. It’s a big win win if you can allow yourself to hear through the noise.

This is a tribute to both British sensibilities for putting this on the shelf, knowing very well what the news will be, offering the consumer a choice to read up on the risks all while supporting Japan. I reckon it’s an ippon. The whole fruit industry will win once they remember how well fruits are made here. Best in the world for sure. Just had some muskat from Yamanashi yesterday Yum.

We eat peaches only when my wife’s friend in Gifu sends us a box gratis. Too expensive - ANY peaches - in Tokyo.

3 peaches for 80 pounds…not for me! Other people seem happy enough to pay that amount so good on them. At least the farmers from Fukushima can get some money after all the hardship they have been facing since 2011 until now. The Government continues to hide the reality of their hardship while people from other prefectures rather not think about them and have all moved on while the people of Fukushima struggle on a daily basis.

Anonymous

Mr Tanaka’s grocery shop in Ebisucho is selling 4 peaches for ¥479 at the moment.

I am not sure why people, including the ones in here, are downplaying the seriousness of radiation and its effects on the environment and also crops.

Fukushima happened in March, and there were no peaches at that time, so the issue is primarily the uptake of radioactivity from the soil into the tree, and then into the peaches. For that, there is research if you care to read it. There was some uptake the year of the accident but it was minimal. There is virtually nothing now. The peaches are fine unless they were grown inside the power plant, in which case they are self-cooking.

kurisupisuToday 10:39 pm JST

No idea who this "David Wolfe" is. He seems to be a random blogger, with no firm evidence for his claim (and a sensationalist stock picture from Wikipedia). And the Youtube video linked in the article gives "This video has been removed for violating YouTube's Terms of Service."

kurisupisuToday 10:44 pm JST

The reports cited do say there has been damage to things like the blue butterfly, but I would doubt that this is the case now. And in terms of plant life, to my knowledge the vegetation around the plant has largely been removed, so - again, I doubt there are any effects there.

kurisupisuToday 10:44 pm JST

Doesn't seem very trustworthy at all, to me. I've never seen information like this anywhere else, and yes - I have done my own research.

Whilst I certainly accept that there will have been local, short-term damage, I highly doubt there is much in the way of appreciable, long-term damage. More recent/trustworthy sources like the 2020 UNSCEAR report (which takes into account research from the period that your sources cover), do not suggest there is any great danger.

....

https://www.unscear.org/unscear/uploads/documents/fact-sheets/2020-2021-report/2313286-FukushimaBrochure_English.pdf

The Committee continues to consider that regional impacts on wildlife populations with a clear causal link to radiation exposure resulting from the FDNPS accident would have been unlikely although detrimental effects on individual organisms might have been possible, and some effects have been observed in plants and animals in the absence of any wide-scale group impacts.

...

Concentrations of 137Cs in marine foods have declined rapidly: 41 per cent of samples caught off the coast of Fukushima Prefecture in 2011 exceeded the long-term limit established by the Government of Japan, decreasing to 17 per cent in 2012, and, from the beginning of 2015, to just four samples out of 9,000 (0.05 per cent).

...

Since 2015, no samples of livestock or crop products, and less than a few per cent of most monitored wild food and freshwater fish products, have exceeded the limit established by the Government of Japan. In addition, a small number of monitored agricultural food samples (less than a few per cent) exceeded the Codex Alimentarius guideline levels for international trade in 2011, and no samples have exceeded them from 2012 onwards.

The large-scale remediation projects implemented by the national Government of Japan and municipal administrations, as well as natural processes and radioactive decay, have further reduced concentrations of radiocaesium in terrestrial and freshwater environments.

That tiny bit of radiation isn't enough to hurt anyone, and it sure isn't enough to contaminate fruits that don't touch the ground.

If the consumers are informed of their origin, then fair enough buyer beware, if not informed... TEPCO strikes again.

Someone is laughing their way to the bank. Well if it helps Japan's trade surplus, good on them.

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Probably the best tasty peaches in all of the English isles!

Radioactive particles concentrate in the environment and are mobile.

Remember that soil in Kashiwa,Tokyo many miles from the plant had to be removed due to high concentrations of radioactivity.

Contamination in Fukushima is not only from Cesium with a half life of 30 years but other isotopes too.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0025326X23004265

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0265931X21000400

Uranium with a half life of hundreds of thousands of years.

Peaches from any place in North East Japan down to Tokyo environs-no thanks.

Data

Sep. 8 05:51 pm JST

I am not sure why people, including the ones in here, are downplaying the seriousness of radiation and its effects on the environment and also crops.

> Nobody is downplaying anything. But there is no agriculture in the areas of Fukushima with elevated radiation, the areas that are lit up on the safecast map. Also, all food in Japan is regularly tested for radiation, but especially that from Fukushima. Did you know that every single bag of rice from Fukushima is tested?

Every single bag is tested?

That's a big claim, do you have a source for that?

Anyway if true that's a big red flag.

Why would every single bag needs to be tested?

It means there could be significant radiation difference from bag to bag

I'm happy though that people still buy fukushima produce

Of course those peaches passed required safety tests before being sold

But I'm not sure if similarly strict tests were being conducted for products sold locally

Data

Today 08:33 am JST

That's a big claim, do you have a source for that?

> See above, I have been corrected: Until 2020, every single bag was tested.

> https://www.env.go.jp/en/chemi/rhm/basic-info/1st/08-02-03.html

> It means there could be significant radiation difference from bag to bag

> No, it just means they tested every bag. No sample failed inspection since 2016, so no "significant difference" could be shown

There could have been, that's why they were tested.

> DataToday  08:33 am JST

That's a big claim, do you have a source for that?

See above, I have been corrected: Until 2020, every single bag was tested.

https://www.env.go.jp/en/chemi/rhm/basic-info/1st/08-02-03.html

It means there could be significant radiation difference from bag to bag

No, it just means they tested every bag. No sample failed inspection since 2016, so no "significant difference" could be shown

Good to know that all rice passed the test meaning radiation levels are below the set standard for passing.

I'm curious though for the actual radiation readings/content, do you have data for that?

The ‘’set standard’ ? Thanks

Ingesting radioactive particles to the ‘set standard’ is fine, is it?

How much radiation can build in the body using the ‘set standard’ until cancer is triggered?

How many Fukushima peaches breach the ‘set standard’

is the ‘set standard’for a pregnant woman the same as for a 80 year old male?

We are all the same,are we?

So many questions but not many answers.

Oh, and the tendency to mislabel products from fish to rice ialready been noted.

What stops a farmer from transporting rice to another prefecture for sale to JÁ or a local restaurant?

It’s all possible.

I have no faith in any produce from Fukushima.or thereabouts.

Industrial rice which restaurants buy is a mixture of rice including Fukushima.

Fukushima mothers group measuring radiation in food

https://cnic.jp/english/?p=3673

kurisupisu

Today 09:20 am JST

The ‘’set standard’ ? Thanks

> Ingesting radioactive particles to the ‘set standard’ is fine, is it?

Nope I didn't say that lol

Data

Today 09:52 am JST

I'm curious though for the actual radiation readings/content, do you have data for that?

> The public database is at https://fukumegu.org/ok/contentsV2/kome_summary.html

Thanks.

So almost all rice in recent years passed the 25bq/kg limit. Some but a very very tiny amount 26-50bq/kg.

Now if I could just find info for average radiation readings for rice across Japan then I'll know if fukushima rice is relatively risky

Standard btw is 100bq/kg.

Since the atomic bomb testing all land across the world is contaminated. The levels of allowable radiation in foodstuffs are set by an international standard or a standard set by the countries. Japan's standard is 10% of the international standards.

*

"Taking account of nuclei other than radioactive cesium (strontium, plutonium and ruthenium), the limits of radioactive cesium were established to ensure that the additional radiation dose from food does not exceed 1 mSv annually."

https://www.caa.go.jp/disaster/earthquake/understanding_food_and_radiation/material/pdf/food_qa_leaf_en.pdf

The massive amount of radiation released by Chernobyl spread from Chernobyl in the east to Ireland in the west.

But Tepco does deserve the bad PR, though?

It's been how many years since the distaster and they still haven't cleaned up everything?

antibotterToday 12:13 pm JST

But Tepco does deserve the bad PR, though?

It's been how many years since the distaster and they still haven't cleaned up everything?

TEPCO deserves bad PR when it does something wrong (like the initial disaster), or makes mistakes (such as the recent fuel debris removal issues).

But with regard to the decommissioning project as a whole, the work is unprecedented and will take decades to complete. This has been known for a long time, and there is no company (or country) in the world that would've "cleaned up everything" by now.

Data

Today 11:49 am JST

So almost all rice in recent years passed the 25bq/kg limit. Some but a very very tiny amount 26-50bq/kg.

> Now if I could just find info for average radiation readings for rice across Japan then I'll know if fukushima rice is relatively risky

> If you assume the absolute worst case, the top of that range at 50Bq/kg of 134 Cs, and you ate only that rice like an average Japanese at 50kg a year, you would be exposed to about 0.05 mSv. That's the equivalent of spending 10 hours on a transcontinental flight, or if you prefer not to leave solid soil, about a week of natural background radiation. Whether or not that is "risky" you need to decide for yourself.

The absolute worst case is if that reported value is not accurate/true.

Anyway not risky or less risky is eating rice not sourced from fukushima right?

antibotter

But Tepco does deserve the bad PR, though?

> It's been how many years since the distaster and they still haven't cleaned up everything?

TEPCO has achieved the removal of the spent fuel from reactors 3 & 4. Reduced the level of radiation around the plant except near the reactor allowing the worker to wear normal working clothes. Removed the tsunami debris.

antibotter

Today 12:13 pm JST

But Tepco does deserve the bad PR, though?

> It's been how many years since the distaster and they still haven't cleaned up everything?

They deserve the bad PR if they lied

Data

Today 12:49 pm JST

The absolute worst case is if that reported value is not accurate/true.

> Sure, but that applies to literally anything. Not sure if that's a helpful argument.

> Anyway not risky or less risky is eating rice not sourced from fukushima right?

> Again, your call. Just make it on accurate information.

My call?

So you're saying it's safe to ingest rice even if it has radionuclides?

Ingestion is different from the background radiation you compared it to

ianToday  12:55 pm JST

Data

Today 12:49 pm JST

The absolute worst case is if that reported value is not accurate/true.

Sure, but that applies to literally anything. Not sure if that's a helpful argument*

Just saying what you're trying to say is the worst is not.

There were also values detected greater than 50

Notably, rice with radiocesium concentration levels over 100 Bq/kg (the new standard since April 2012 in Japan) were detected in only 71 and 28 bags out of the total 10,338,000 in 2012 and 11,001,000 in 2013, respectively.

https://www.nature.com/articles/srep08653#:~:text=Notably%2C%20rice%20with%20radiocesium%20concentration,and%2011%2C001%2C000%20in%202013%2C%20respectively.

wallace

Today 01:11 pm JST

Notably, rice with radiocesium concentration levels over 100 Bq/kg (the new standard since April 2012 in Japan) were detected in only 71 and 28 bags out of the total 10,338,000 in 2012 and 11,001,000 in 2013, respectively.

> https://www.nature.com/articles/srep08653#:~:text=Notably%2C%20rice%20with%20radiocesium%20concentration,and%2011%2C001%2C000%20in%202013%2C%20respectively.

Ah that's good I guess.

So does that mean the rice is safe to eat?

Ah not actually asking your conclusion, rather, does the study concludes that the rice is safe to eat?

ian

Ah not actually asking your conclusion, rather, does the study concludes that the rice is safe to eat?

You can tell me. If you have eaten rice in a restaurant you will have eaten Fukushima rice. Did it harm you in any way?

Why would you eat these if you don't have to?

Why are people discussing rice, marine foods, and TEPCO? There are lots of problems concerning Fukushima, and the cleanup of the actual site will take forever, but the story is about peaches in a department store. They are fine and they are delicious.

Actually, the reviews from London journalists re the peaches have been,’less than peachy’

Those of us who live in Japan fortunately have many other sources for exceptional peaches — Nagano, Yamanashi, and Yamagata to name three.

Don't forget Okayama. They have some real sweet and juice peaches. I was there about a couple of months ago. I'd go back again.