Radiation concerns for Japan's beef supply intensify

Come on JAPAN. It's just NOT the beef supply, is it? THINK. Come on. Even think of the Fall, DO NOT BURN the dead leaves you sweep up from the parks this year. DO NOT BURN THEM. The isotopes are everywhere that you need to think about and beyond. It's a daunting, mountainous task BUT you can do it. 日本。頑張ろ！

The government prepared to suspend cattle shipments from Fukushima

Finally. How much of this stuff needs to get put into the food system before the government decides to get off its a**? Why is anything still being allowed out of Fukushima?

radiation isn't as bad as people make it out to be. you could eat a steak from a fukushima cow that ate radioactive hay. you would never know.

just let the rest of the world know before you all turn into zombies

I can't imagine how many ppl have ingested cesium tainted food( meats,vegetables,seafood etc) in Japan already. This goes to the posters here too..

Affected cattle growers have said they were unaware that the national government had issued a warning on March 19 that feed stored outdoors should not be given to their animals. A Fukushima government official acknowledged that the prefecture did not adequately pass along the instruction to farmers.

J Govt is not dealing with the ramafications of this nuclear crisis, the populace receives bits and dribbles of important information ALL AFTER THE FACT. It's sickening, J Govt is not thinking, not seeing, not caring, not listening to the people's worries.

None of this would be an issue if Japan wasn't self brainwashed into thinking that importing food (cheaper, better, more abundant) from other countries was some kind of huge Japanese culture destroying taboo.

I'm lucky that in my area, far from Fukushima, there are Brazilian supermarkets where all the beef is Australian and all the fruit juice South American. And I can buy eggs and veggies directly from local farmers.

@Sunhawk: Feed it your children then.

Oh yeah, and they sell only imported Thai and Brazilian rice.

if i had kids i would. you could die of skin cancer you got from a bad sun burn. brain cancer from diet cola(supposedly). you just never know. better to enjoy your life and not worry about everything that can kill you.

It sucks knowing Japan is in so much hurt right now. I really hope them the best through this. I just keep waiting to hear good news but sometimes it seems impossible to find. I can't imagine going through it.

The United Nations and the IADEA?? Must come down hard on this stupid Japanese government, now! These dorks in Nagatacho think they can screw up the country by having supported nuclear power plants not only in Fukushima and about 30 other places around Japan, but also have the gall to say with a straight face, hey we are going to continue to EXPORT nuclear technology, it is no good for Japan, but sure if some oil rich, corrupt third world basket case, Indonesia etc...wants Japanese nuclear technology, great$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$!!! Right?? So we should never underestimate the GREED and CORRUPTION of this Japanese government and how LOW, low down they may really go just for $$$$$$$$$$$!!!! So our beef, etc..can be contaminated but will NHK let us know?? HELL NO!

if i had kids i would. you could die of skin cancer you got from a bad sun burn. brain cancer from diet cola(supposedly). you just never know. better to enjoy your life and not worry about everything that can kill you.

Sunhawk this isn't the scenario. Where rubbing sunblock will protect your skin from UV rays from the sun. It's more like sticking your head in the microwave..

Just wait till the rice harvest - there are gonna be a lot of food scandals to come

"None of this would be an issue if Japan wasn't self brainwashed into thinking that importing food (cheaper, better, more abundant) from other countries was some kind of huge Japanese culture destroying taboo."

You have to think that the whole imported food issue will have an effect on the pending trade agreements with Japan. Then again, this being Japan, maybe not.

Everything is contaminated, cause it seems mixing good foodstuff and bad foodstuff together ie. Milk for example is all good in Fantasy Coma Land.

Fukushima Daiichi prepares for typhoon arrival

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/18_01.html

not much prep work going on.

"Affected cattle growers have said they were unaware that the national government had issued a warning on March 19 that feed stored outdoors should not be given to their animals."

Whether we assume the farmers should have known it was potentially dangerous without being mandated, what were they supposed to do in any case ? Let their animals starve ? Where else are they going to get straw from? Was it going to be shipped ? The It isn't the ranchers that are to blame. Even meat from with cattle raised indoors and all the feed stored inside have been found to have triple or quadruple the legal limit of cesium. It is the Japanese government that needs a higher level approach to maintain confidence in their food supply, and export markets.

Why is anything still being allowed out of Fukushima?

I'd like to know the answer to that, also.

'Concerned,' 'Prepared to suspend cattle shipments..,' again, you gotta be kidding me. There should be no food consumed anywhere close to Fukushima. What, is everyone in this country half asleep? Fukushima is a nuclear disaster area. Not only should nobody be living there, absolutely no food should be eaten that grows there. Trying to be safe about food over here? Go to Costco, buy imported stuff. Be careful when shopping in a Japanese supermarket. Now we need to know exactly where everything comes from. It's sad and upsetting. The Japanese government wants its citizens to think that Fukushima is safe. What a bunch of devils.

It is the Japanese government that needs a higher level approach to maintain confidence in their food supply, and export markets.

There no export markets anymore - make no mistake about that.

Forty-two beef cows that ate rice straw contaminated with radioactive cesium were found to have been shipped from a livestock farm in the Fukushima Prefecture town of Asakawa from April 8. The rice straw had been supplied by a farmer in Shirakawa, about 75 kilometers away from the tsunami-hit nuclear power station**.

SO...... logic would dictate that the veggies and other items grown outdoors would be contaminated also….. would it not? What about the poultry?... eggs?... pork? If the rice straw was contaminated 75km away from the nuke plant, everything else is too.. the particles do not just fall on rice straw. What about the people that loaded and worked with the straw… those cheap masks you see everyone wearing don’t keep much dust out… especially if they are worn on the chin … as a lot of people do when they get uncomfortable. The pundits were ridiculed when they recommended a 80km clear zone, now it appears that that may not be enough…. Shoganai

I haven't heard anything about the milk in Japan. Are dairy cows eating differently than beef cattle?

"Affected cattle growers have said they were unaware that the national government had issued a warning on March 19 that feed stored outdoors should not be given to their animals." This comment is pure unadulterated excrement. The first case they found was of a farmer who lied on a survey. He knew he wasn't supposed to feed his cows on that hay but he did so anyway. Said he had nothing else to feed them. Then he lied so he could sell the beef. Nobody is prosecuting him. If you sell Chinese beef and call it Japanese you go to jail. If you sell cesium and call it beef nothing happens.

sunhawk: "If I had kids I would"

You would WILLINGLY feed your children radioactive beef? That means you are not only sick, but abusive.

The apologists' stance is getting weaker and weaker.

This is terrible, and I'm afraid it's going to get worse. While one serving of contaminated beef probably won't raise a person's cancer risk, most Japanese eat rice every day. Beware this year's rice harvest. Rice is slow-growing, and by October will have had several months to absorb high levels of cesium. I hope the Japanese government is aware of this and is making provisions now to import foreign rice if necessary. Remember, rice is also used extensively in animal feed. Keeping Japan's people safe and healthy is going to require some serious thinking outside the box. I'm not worried about myself, since I can leave the country anytime I want. I'm worried about my friends who don't have anywhere else to go and must ride this out for better or worse.

They were checking milk for a time for iodine contamination but when that threat dissipated the news on milk stopped. Nothing has made it to the media regarding cesium in milk.

This from the Yomiuri:"Officials of the Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Ministry have admitted they did not consider the possibility of cattle ingesting straw contaminated by radioactive substances emitted from the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant. "This is nothing less than a colossal blunder by our ministry. It was beyond our expectations that straw would become a source of radioactive contamination," a ministry official said."

I think they mean hay, not straw, but they must have thought the radioactive particles would politely refrain from falling on the grass intended for cattle. This is absurd.

I was mistaken. They do mean straw. Rice straw.

Jesus wept. Does anyone in Nagatacho have A) a brain, or B) a conscience?

The government prepared to suspend cattle shipments from Fukushima

No. Just DO IT GD it! Retroactively! Anything that came, send it back!

36 million in the Tokyo area. Who actually ate it is the question of concern.

Affected cattle growers have said they were unaware that the national government had issued a warning on March 19 that feed stored outdoors should not be given to their animals. A Fukushima government official acknowledged that the prefecture did not adequately pass along the instruction to farmers.

Stupidity or ignorance?

Radioactive cesium emits gamma rays, which can damage cellular DNA and raise the risk of cancer. The levels found in the beef, though, would become a health concern only if a person ate large quantities every day for a year according to Japan's National Institute of Radiological Sciences.

Affected cattle growers have said they were unaware that the national government had issued a warning on March 19 that feed stored outdoors should not be given to their animals.

Can ignorance really be used as an excuse? These farmers should all be charged regardless of their pathetic excuses.

Hey Crazy Joe. Don't forget about the HOT PARTICLES that could be ingested too...

contaminated STRAW? STRAW??? Come on its the WATER supply not the damn STRAW

"Affected cattle growers have said they were unaware that the national government had issued a warning on March 19 that feed stored outdoors should not be given to their animals."

This is the usual excuse when people here commit crimes, including the government. And it is a crime, and as such the farmers in question should be locked up.

Does anyone in Nagatacho have A) a brain, or B) a conscience?

kaminarioyaji -- That is the $64,000 question. The track record of the last four months would raise serious doubts. How can the agriculture ministry "not imagine" that cows could ingest radioactive straw? What did they think they were eating? Russia faced brutal criticism from the West due to its handling of the impact of radiation on the food supply from Chernobyl. But I honestly can't see how Japan is doing any better. And over two decades have passed, which should have allowed Japan to learn something from Chernobyl. You'd think a country with over 50 nukes would have done that, wouldn't you?

I'm lucky that in my area, far from Fukushima, there are Brazilian supermarkets where all the beef is Australian and all the fruit juice South American. And I can buy eggs and veggies directly from local farmers.

Japanese companies have a long record of mislabeling food, even major ones like Nippon Ham. How do you really know where the meat or vegetables you are eating are from? I know for a fact that even sell-by stickers on meat products in supermarkets here are routinely "extended". There was a scandal a few years ago where Thai chicken was labeled as "domestic". Now it's likely to be the other way around!

Looking at all the opinions, I would say that the Japanese Government must take a stern steps regarding all agro products leaving from the disaster area and also the surroundings. If not, there will be a catastrophe effect as the domino chain will start showing health problems in the coming months ahead. It's going to get tough, but the tough gets going.

Re the food chain. We are supposed to learn from our mistakes. Chernobyl gave us a clear example of what to expect in this type of situation and yet nothing was done.

Perhaps it is already too late.

Kinda brings a whole new meaning to "pray for Japan," doesn't it?

The fact is Japan is in an extremely serious position and any steps the government takes now will be, by and large, too little, too late . This has been a catastrophe which will have more disastrous implications than even Chernobyl. The government has always been between a rock and a hard place because the truth would have had a country in complete panic, especially the "lifeblood" Tokyo area. They've had to try to keep things as normal as possible, but as can be seen, they can't keep the lid on much longer. As I've maintained from the beginning, if you have kids and you have another country to go to, you owe it your children to get out of here. In fact, anyone who doesn't have family or responsibilities here is crazy to stay.

Good news for Aussie beef producers...

The fact is Japan is in an extremely serious position and any steps the government takes now will be, by and large, too little, too late . This has been a catastrophe which will have more disastrous implications than even Chernobyl. The government has always been between a rock and a hard place because the truth would have had a country in complete panic, especially the "lifeblood" Tokyo area. They've had to try to keep things as normal as possible, but as can be seen, they can't keep the lid on much longer. As I've maintained from the beginning, if you have kids and you have another country to go to, you owe it your children to get out of here. In fact, anyone who doesn't have family or responsibilities here is crazy to stay.

This...

In all seriousness, is there anything safe to eat in Japan? Does anyone know the rules and regulations when it comes to food labeling? I've heard you can have food stuffs come from an affected area, be shipped to another prefecture, processed and packaged, then shipped anywhere else and the package will state it came from the new prefecture. Does anyone know if this is true or not?

They're still testing sheep in the UK for radiation because of Chernobyl, 3000 miles away and 25 years ago. Japan's problem will last a long time, that's for sure.

@takoyakitora I'd also like to know more about that.

"Kinda brings a whole new meaning to "pray for Japan," doesn't it?"

I've said from the beginning I hate the phrase -- it makes it sound like Japan is hopeless. Now I realize that when people coined the 'pray for Japan' they were simply seeing things before we could see them here on the ground. Japan IS hopeless, as is clear by this kind of action.

this is no where near as bad as Chernobyl. its not even in the same galaxy as that disaster. if three mile island is 5 year olds playing tee ball, fukushima is 5th graders playing softball. chernobyl is the tokyo giants.

Money talks, BS walks...............

The ONLY way japan Government will change her ways of food safety is AFTER the rest of the world ban food imports from japan.

@ sunhawk

Article from JT May 25,2011

Radiation released by the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant has caused soil contamination matching the levels seen in the Chernobyl disaster in some areas, a researcher told the government’s nuclear policy-setting body Tuesday