UPDATE ON RADIATION IN U.S. FOOD IMPORTS FROM JAPAN

Judging from the search phrases on my blog (which I always keep an eye on), I see that radiation in food as a result of the Fukushima nuclear accident remains a concern among consumers worldwide. That includes the U.S. Yes, the U.S. does import food products from Japan, but they account for less than 4 percent of all imported foods. The most common food products sourced from Japan to the U.S. include seafood, snack foods and processed fruits and vegetables.

To put your mind at rest - the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has been keeping a close eye on these to make sure that radionuclide levels do not exceed safety standards. The FDA has been working with the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CPB). The Government of Japan is of course also doing its part to make sure that exported food is safe.

The FDA’s import tracking system has been programmed to flag all shipments of FDA-regulated products from Japan - which cover a wide range - and the Agency maintains a registry of companies that prepare, pack, manufacture, or hold food for intended consumption in the U.S. Since the Fukushima incident, special attention has been given to shipments from producers and companies in the areas most affected by radiation. Samples of four categories of food are tested regularly for Iodine-131 (I-131), Cesium-134 (Cs-134) and Cesium-137 (Cs-137) as well as radionuclides such as Strontium-90, Ruthenium-103 (Ru-103) and Ruthenium-106 (Ru-106).

Yes, there was an import alert announced in the U.S. starting in March, 2011 regarding the importation of all milk and milk products and fresh vegetables and fruits which were either produced or manufactured in any of the four Japanese prefectures of Fukushima, Ibaraki, Tochigi and Gunma. Progressively, this alert was revised during 2011 as these food products were found to be safe.

Overall, there have been no major warning flags on any of the Japanese food products that are being imported into the U.S. At least, according to the FDA.

The Canadian CFIA and nations elsewhere have taken action similar to the FDA to make sure that no food or animal feed with high radiation levels enters the country.

To your good health,

TSF

AVOIDING RADIATION IN FOOD IN JAPAN

It is now more than 6 months since the tragic earthquake, tsunami and massive damage to the Daiichi nuclear power plant in Fukushima, Japan. Although it is largely out of the international news these days, the difficulties in Japan continue. A major concern for many people is safety of their own and their family's food. How can they make sure it doesn't carry too much radiation, and endanger their health?

Unfortunately - as I predicted in early March (see earlier posts) - radionuclides are indeed turning up in Japan's food at high levels - often many times the safety standards established. Dangerous levels of radiation have now been found in such foods as beef, plums, spinach, bamboo shoots, rice, tea, milk, seaweed and fish. Some of this radiation-contaminated food has come from as far away as 360 kilometers from the nuclear plant.
Yes, authorities in Fukushima and neighboring prefectures are conducting spot checks on a growing number of food products. But clearly, as in any such activity, some is caught and some is missed. It is impossible to check every food item.

Effective controls also depend on cooperation of farmers, and farmers are understandably concerned about how positive findings would affect their livelihoods.

Many consumers are convinced that the government is just not doing enough to keep them safe. Rightly so, mothers of young children, pregnant and lactating women, are particularly concerned. Some strategies people are using themselves to try to avoid the more contaminated food products include:

• Avoiding foods from certain prefectures. But this is not as easy to do as one might assume.
• Joining cooperatives which re-test the food products they sell. But there is a price mark-up to cover the cost of such testing, which excludes people who are not as well off.
• Buying canned or frozen or dried products which were packaged prior to March, 2011.
• Diversification: for instance, rotating the brand of milk they buy so that their risks are reduced from any single one.
• Avoiding certain fresh food items altogether which they feel might be more likely to be contaminated, such as leafy greens, fresh milk.
• Eating imported foods as much as possible.

A few meals of food with high radiation levels are unlikely to hurt most people. But eating such food regularly over a period of time, has been shown by research to increase certain cancer risks as well as lead to other health problems, particularly if you are also being exposed to such contaminants from other sources (such as your water, or the environment). Yes, it is a good idea to be careful.

To your good health,
TSF

WHY RADIATION-CONTAMINATED CATTLE ARE BAD NEWS

Beef with high levels of radiation has been prevented from entering Tokyo's food markets. But only because the meat itself was tested during processing. The earlier pre-shipment external screening of the live cattle had passed them as "safe." According to a government official, this was the first time that excessive levels of radioactive caesium have been found in meat since the start of this Fukushima nuclear crisis in March (still unresolved).

Here are the facts: eleven cattle from a herd in Fukushima prefecture were found to have three to six times the legal limit of radioactive caesium (which can increase cancer risk) in their meat. And these cattle had lived outside the 20-30Km evactuation zone. In fact, they were reportedly moved there to be "safe" from radiation spewing out of Japan's crippled nuclear plant, raised indoors and fed safe food and water.

Alright, high levels of dangerous radionuclides in 11 cattle is not a big issue. Or is it? You could say, that it raises some very unpleasant - but important, questions. Here are some in my mind:

 How many other cattle with such high levels of radionuclides actually reached the market? Some 3,000 beef cattle from the same area have also passed external testing for contaminants since April. None - as also in the case of this herd - tested positive for radiation during the initial screening. It seems that their meat was not tested before it was sold and eaten. Was it also above safe levels?
 Is the currently performed random testing of actual market-ready food items sufficient to protect the public? According to a Japan's Ministry of Health spokesman, less than 1% of actual food (including meat, fresh produce, and seafood) is being tested for nuclear contaminants.
 What about other food animals such as swine and poultry? The government of Fukushima prefecture has asked farmers in Minamisouma to refrain from cattle shipments (sounds a bit vague) but no action has been taken or advice given on other poultry or livestock.
 How did these cattle end up with such high levels if they were (as claimed) raised indoors and fed safe food? And what does this imply for other food animals - and humans?

To your good health,
TSF

HOW DANGEROUS IS RADIATION IN GREEN TEA?

We tend to think of green tea as a healthy drink. Initially, I found the taste a little difficult to become used to, but am now drinking a couple of cups a day. I have friends who drink ten cups or more. All those wonderful antioxidants that our bodies need! Not only has green tea been drunk for thousands of years in countries such as China, India, Thailand and Japan, but it has been used as a medicine to treat anything and everything, ranging from flatulence to heart conditions. Besides, it is supposed to be good for your complexion.

Now we are reading reports that some of the tea grown in Japan may be accumulating high levels of radionuclides from the crippled Fukushima Dachii nuclear power plant (see yesterday's post). The tea growers from Shizuoka Prefecture, where much of Japan's tea is grown, say this kind of concern is ridiculous. So do some members of the opposition party.

After all, dry tea is a concentrated product. When tea leaves are fresh, and therefore heavier, testing would show lower levels of unhealthy radionuclides such as cesium-137 and 134. And besides, when you add water to dry tea leaves, it becomes even more diluted, thus lowering levels of radionuclides to acceptable levels.

Yes, all this is probably true, but still, I can't say I like the idea of drinking my "healthy" green tea with a touch of nuclear contaminants.

And you had better not chew on the green tea leaves, just in case! Some people do. Not even in your chewing gum, or those delicious Trader Joe's green tea candies.

To your good health,

TSF

HIGH LEVELS OF RADIATION FOUND IN GREEN TEA

Efforts continue to contain the situation at the crippled Fukushima Daichii nuclear power plant in Japan. I just looked at Ministry of Health's latest published results on testing of food for iodine, cesium-134 and cesium-137. I found the levels of radionuclides to be surpisingly low for the most part, although clearly some rivers (and fish) are becoming quite contaminated.

But the news hitting the wires is the discovery of high levels of radiation in a green tea shipment at the Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris yesterday. The tea had come from Japan's Shizuoka Prefecture. Apparently the detected level of the radionuclide cesium were 1,038 becquerels per kg of tea. This is about double the European Union's maximum allowed radioactive load in foods (cesium 134 and cesium 137). (But note - I have found no official statement.)

This Shizuoka Prefecture produces some 40% of Japan's green tea. Some ten days ago, the Prefecture announced that it had found levels of 679 becquerels of radioactive cesium per kilogram of tea from a producer 355 Km from the nuclear plant. The tea farmers in the area are very upset since their livelihoods are at stake. Shipment of tea from this producer was stopped, and testing expanded. But apparently some got through from somewhere. Or so it seems - if these reports are true.

But relax - customs officials detained the tea and it did not enter the marketplace. At least this shipment didn't. Who knows what other countries received some from the same or neighboring producers. I certainly know that here in the U.S. we import green tea from Japan. I just finished drinking some...

To your good health,

TSF

WILL RADIATION-CONTAMINATED SEAWATER REACH THE UNITED STATES?

Looking at the statistics for this blog, I notice that quite a few people in the United States have been searching about radiation in food, including in fish. I don't think they are just worried about imported fish from Japan (although some people are certainly avoiding that). They are also wondering whether radiation in the sea near the crippled Fukushima power plant will reach U.S. waters and contaminate the fish here.

Japanese officials have now raised the severity of the Fukushima disaster to that of Chernobyl - a level 7. But, in terms of its impact on oceans, the effect is actually greater. Certain radionuclides have been found at higher levels in the Pacific than they were after Chernobyl in the Black Sea and the Baltic Sea. They got into the Pacific not only from the hundreds of thousands of tons of very radioactive water discharged into the ocean, but also from the air. So where does all this water go? To answer that question, I did a bit of searching to see what the oceanographers are predicting.

Yes, it does seem that the main currents from the Fukushima area of Japan move across the Pacific towards the west coast of the United States. I think they are the Kuroshio and the Oyashio, which converge (see NASA photo taken 100 miles north of the Fukushima plant). The contaminated seawater is expected to reach Hawaii in about a year and get as far as California in two to three years. It takes a while.

In the meantime, it will get more and more diluted. So it seems that Americans - including people here in California - shouldn't be too worried.

Let's just stick to focusing more on our home-grown toxins in seafood , such as those found the the San Francisco Bay and Santa Monica Bay of California - PCBs, DDT, dieldrin, chlordane and dioxins. And, any that our own nuclear plants discharge into the environment.

To your good health!

TSF