Over-limit radioactive materials found in 11 Fukushima vegetables

TOKYO, March 23, Kyodo

Radioactive materials drastically exceeding legal limits set under the food sanitation law have been found in 11 types of vegetable grown in Fukushima Prefecture, including broccoli and cabbage, the health ministry said Wednesday.

The Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry called on consumers not to eat the 11 vegetables, also including spinach and the ''komatsuna'' leaf vegetable, produced in the prefecture, where a troubled nuclear power plant is located, for the time being.

The prefecture's vegetables grown in open-air environments are being distributed by the National Federation of Agricultural Cooperative Associations, or JA Zen-Noh. No shipments of these vegetables have been made since Monday, it said.

If a person eats 100 grams of the vegetable with the largest detected amount of radioactive materials for about 10 days, it would be equal to ingesting half the amount of radiation a person typically receives from the natural environment in a year, the ministry said.

If a person keeps eating the vegetable at the same pace, the amount of radiation intake could exceed the amount deemed safe, the ministry said.

The ministry detected radioactive cesium that is 164 times the limit -- 82,000 becquerels -- in ''kukitachina'' leaves from Motomiya, along with 15,000 becquerels of radioactive iodine which is more than seven times the limit, it said. The ministry also detected a level of cesium drastically exceeding the limit in some of the other vegetables, it said.

Shipments of spinach from Fukushima have already been halted based on a special law for dealing with the nuclear disaster. In the latest test, the ministry detected radioactive materials from spinach produced in seven municipalities in the prefecture, including the city of Tamura.

The ministry decided to call on consumers to refrain from consuming those 11 vegetables after consulting with experts at the Nuclear Safety Commission of Japan, ministry officials said.

Also in Ibaraki Prefecture, radioactive materials beyond the limit were found in raw milk in Mito and Kawachi collected from Saturday through Monday, and in parsley harvested in Hokota and Namegata, it said.

The government on Monday ordered Fukushima to halt the shipment of spinach, ''kakina'' leaves and raw milk based on the special law.

The other Fukushima-produced vegetables subject to the government's instruction to refrain from consumption are turnips and similar green leaf vegetables -- ''shinobufuyuna,'' ''santona,'' ''chijirena,'' ''kosaitai'' and ''aburana'' rape.

==Kyodo

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