As one city in Japan's radiation-stricken Fukushima prefecture starts serving local rice in school lunches, the long debate over the safety of Fukushima rice seems to be as much a matter of marketing as of science.
"TOKYO — Fukushima Gov Yuuhei Sato visited supermarkets in Tokyo on Friday and Saturday in an attempt to convince shoppers that rice grown in his prefecture is safe. The tour comes in the same month that rice production in the area restarts fully for the first time since the tsunami and ensuing nuclear disaster of 2011.
Sato brought radiation testing equipment and rice grown in Fukushima Prefecture to a supermarket in Edogawa Ward, Sankei Shimbun reported. He explained to shoppers, while testing samples of rice for radiation, that rice found to be emitting over 100 becquerels per kilogram would not be shipped to customers. Sato also said that results of these radiation tests on a variety of produce would be published on a web page."
Japan Today had the story November 24, 2012.
SEE ALSO:
"Nihonmatsu City To Restart Serving Fukushima Rice for School Lunch From December" (Fukushima Diary)
"Rice Planting To Resume in Fukushima Prefecture" (Yomiuri Shimbun)
"Fukushima Rice Banned By Japan" (Guardian: 11/18/12)
"Demand Up as Fukushima Rice Passes Radiation Checks" (Asahi Shimbun: 10/23/12)
"Fukushima Rice Above Threshold for Cesium" (Japan Times: 10/25/12)
"Fukushima’s Fallout: Farmers Suffer as Buyers Reject Food Even Though It’S Safe" (Toronto Star: 3/4/12)
"Japan Expands Rice Ban as Contamination Spreads" (Bloomberg: 12/7/12)
"Fukushima Rice Banned By Japan" (Guardian: 11/18/11)
"Staple Scare: Radioactive Rice in Fukushima" (Wall St. Journal: 11/1712)
"Rice Farmers in Japan Set Tougher Radiation Limits for Crops to Spur Sales" (Bloomberg: 10/13/11)
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