Japan’s Wagyu Beef Exports, Rice Output Threatened by Radiation

Agricultural production and exports by Japan, including wagyu beef and rice, are under threat of radioactive contamination as the nation struggles to stem pollution from the damaged Fukushima nuclear plant.

The Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare has asked each prefectural governor to start testing agricultural and marine products along with drinking water for possible contamination in order to keep tainted food including grains, milk, vegetables, meat and eggs from the market, said Kumiko Tanaka at the ministry’s policy planning and communication division.

The action highlights the severity of radiation leak from the Fukushima Dai-Ichi power station, about 220 kilometers (140 miles) north of Tokyo, after Japan’s biggest earthquake on record and tsunami hit the area on March 11. Workers plan to resume dousing the damaged reactor structures with seawater from fire trucks on 18 March, as they try to stem radioactive pollution from the worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl.

Farmers in Fukushima produce rice, vegetables, fruits, beef, pork, chicken and eggs, according to the prefecture’s website. Neighboring Ibaraki prefecture is the largest supplier of vegetables to consumers in Tokyo, Shimizu said.

Japan exported 677 metric tons of beef, including premium “wagyu” meat, in the year ended March 31, 2010, data from the agriculture ministry show. Vietnam was the largest buyer with 433 tons, followed by Hong Kong with 119 tons and the U.S. with 81 tons.

Tolerable Levels

The Health Ministry has tentatively set tolerable levels of radioactivity for each product. For drinking water, the level is set at 300 becquerel per kilogram of radioactive iodine. For milk, 200 becquerel per kilogram of radioactive cesium.

If contaminated foods are discovered through testing, the health ministry will order their producers to suspend output and shipments immediately, Tanaka said.

Pollution from the nuclear plant has also dealt a blow to Japan’s agriculture ministry as it aims to boost rice exports to China and beef exports to Hong Kong as premium products.

“We have not received any report of an import ban on Japanese food products because of a radiation leak from the Fukushima plant,” said Toshinori Mitsunaga at the export promotion office of the ministry. “We’ll ensure that foods tested for contamination will never be shipped out of Japan.”

The European Union recommended more controls on agricultural products from Japan following the radiation leaks from the Fukushima nuclear-power plant, European Commission spokesman Frederic Vincent told reporters in Brussels on 17 March.

Screening Imports

Asian countries have started to screen food imports from Japan following explosions at the nuclear plant that raised radiation levels at the complex to harmful levels.

South Korea, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore and the Philippines all took steps to check fruit, vegetables, meat and seafood from Japan for nuclear material. A radiation dose of 100 millisieverts a year is the lowest level at which any increase in cancer is evident, the World Nuclear Association said on its website.

Radiation levels in the Fukushima plant showed a consistent decline from the early hours of March 17, Kyodo News reported, citing data compiled by Japan’s Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency. Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said March 15 radiation at Fukushima’s No. 3 reactor reached 400 millisieverts per hour.