Japan Lifts Ban on Beef Shipment From Disaster Hit Regions

The Japanese government has lifted the last remaining bans on beef shipments from the Iwate Fukushima and Tochigi prefectures, assuring consumers that a system had been set up to prevent tainted meat from reaching the market.

Barely a month ago, Japanese government officials restricted beef shipments after elevated caesium levels were found in Tokyo from meat shipped from a farm in Minamisoma, a town just outside the no-go zone.

The Japanese government has lifted the last remaining bans on beef shipments from the Iwate Fukushima and Tochigi prefectures, assuring consumers that a system had been set up to prevent tainted meat from reaching the market.

Barely a month ago, Japanese government officials restricted beef shipments after elevated caesium levels were found in Tokyo from meat shipped from a farm in Minamisoma, a town just outside the no-go zone.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the lifting of the bans does not necessarily mean that the areas were now free from contamination. Rather, “it is based on the view that local authorities are now capable of catching tainted beef before shipping takes place.”

[quote]“We have established safety control measures in each prefecture through monitoring feed and testing,” said Yukio Edano, Japan’s chief cabinet secretary, to journalists at a press conference on Thursday.[/quote]

Mr. Edano added that the government had only taken this step after ensuring that “safety management and shipment control systems were secured.”

Local government authorities from each prefecture must now inspect all cattle before allowing the beef to be shipped to other parts of the country. Only farmers whose cattle are confirmed to be safe can resume shipments.

Approximately 3,000 cattle suspected of being contaminated with radioactive cesium have been shipped throughout Japan thus far, many of which were fed rice straw that was exposed to fallout from the tsunami-triggered nuclear crisis.

According to an AFP report, some Japanese government officials now believe that the amount of radioactive caesium released by the Fukushima nuclear disaster so far could be equal to that of “168 Hiroshimas”.

The estimate was submitted by Prime Minister Naoto Kan’s cabinet to a lower house committee on promotion of technology and innovation, quoted AFP from the Tokyo Shimbun Daily.

However, some officials have also argued that the comparison is invalid.

[quote]”An atomic bomb is designed to enable mass-killing and mass-destruction by causing blast waves and heat rays and releasing neutron radiation,” the Tokyo Shimbun daily quoted a government official as saying. “It is not rational to make a simple comparison only based on the amount of isotopes released.”[/quote]