For years, the Japanese government has sought to convince consumers that food from Fukushima is safe despite the nuclear disaster. But the question remains whether food from this prefecture will be served at the Tokyo Olympics.
It’s a thorny subject for the authorities. They pitched the Olympics in part as a chance to showcase the recovery of areas affected by the 2011 earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster. Government officials tout strict checks on food from the prefecture as evidence the produce is completely safe, but it remains unclear whether athletes and sports teams from around the world will be convinced.
In Fukushima, producers are keen to see their products served in the Olympic Village and have submitted a bid to the organizers.
“Fukushima Prefecture has put forward food from 187 producers and is second only to Hokkaido when it comes to meeting the specified criteria in terms of range of products,” said Shigeyuki Honma, assistant director general of the prefectural government’s agriculture and forestry planning division.
“Fukushima wants to serve athletes its rice, its fruits, beef and vegetables. But the committee still has to decide.”
In the years since the nuclear disaster, when tsunami overwhelmed the reactors at the Fukushima No. 1 power plant, strict measures have been in place to screen all manner of local produce. Japan allows a maximum of 100 becquerels of cesium radioactivity per kilogram. The European Union, by comparison, sets that level at 1,250 Bq/kg and the U.S. at 1,200.
According to officials, from April 2018 to March, 9.21 million bags of rice were examined with not a single one exceeding the Japanese limit. The same for 2,455 samples of fruit and vegetables, 4,336 pieces of meat and 6,187 ocean fish.
Source: japantimes.co.jp
