Increasing concern over contaminated food in Japan

Tokyo, Japan — ESI-AFRICA.COM — 21 July 2011 –  Japanese consumers and the country’s authorities are becoming increasingly concerned about food safety, following an increasing number of cases of contaminated food in the wake of the earthquake and tsunami which struck the island nation on 11 March.

In the latest incident, it’s been confirmed in a report by Kyodo news agency that more than 1,200 beef cattle that ate feed highly contaminated with radioactive cesium have been shipped all over Japan from Fukushima and other prefectures, adding to anxiety after the world’s worst nuclear crisis in 25 years.

The report comes a day after Tokyo ordered the suspension of all shipments of beef cattle from Fukushima prefecture, after discovering that cattle fed rice straw contaminated with high levels of radioactive cesium had been shipped nationwide

There have also been numerous reports of vegetables, tea, milk, seafood and water being contaminated due to radiation leaks at the tsunami-hit nuclear plant in Fukushima, 240 km north of the capital..

The government is still conducting tests to determine whether the meat was contaminated. Experts say the health implications for consumers from cow feed contamination were not immediately clear.

Meanwhile Tokyo Electric Power Co’s Fukushima nuclear plant continues to leak radiation more than four months after the disaster.