Fukushima rice planting banned this year

This will not be of interest perhaps to anyone outside of Japan. However, the Japanese government has banned rice planting this year in Fukushima.

www.bloomberg.com...

However, some rice has been shipped this year already, before this ban. So rice which is sold as domestic rice and sold as a type of rice `Japanese koshihikari` for instance, can have any area`s rice mixed together. Rice products such as rice crackers do not have to say where the rice within them was from. It is entirely possible that Fukushima rice may find its way into the Japanese food supply this year.

If rice is labeled as say `Nigata rice` it will only be allowed to have rice from that area - it will not be allowed to contain Fukushima rice.

Probably worth erring on the safe side for anyone in Japan still.

reply to post by ThousandIslandSunny


This is interesting, but was published in late March. Has this changed in the past 2 months? I would think anything living near there is going to last much longer!

reply to post by ThousandIslandSunny


Thank You for letting me know...I'm a big rice cake fan. I really don't think the government has a handle on the food chain yet. They have not had a reason to have to monitor before. And, I do know, from reading so many articles, since the crisis at Fukushima, that Japan is NOT known for being honest in the past with food problems. for example...

By Yoree Koh

In a case that has grown to dominate headlines through Japan’s Golden Week holidays and prompted questions about food safety enforcement, authorities on Friday afternoon raided the corporate headquarters of a barbecue restaurant chain operator and a wholesale distributor connected to an outbreak of E.coli food poisoning from a raw beef dish that has led to four deaths and left scores ill. blogs.wsj.com...

And this article on the corruption in food distribution and politics on Japan is a real eye opener...

E. Coli O157, Food Distribution and the Yakuza -- and Poisoned Children -- a Case of Bacteriological Terrorism?

Synopsis: The E. coli O157 epidemic is a natural byproduct of Japan's food distribution system, which is controlled by bureaucrats, trading companies and agribusiness -- a fourth, silent partner, criminal syndicates, or the yakuza. To understand why Japanese public health officials have failed to stop the spread of the contagion -- and why if became necessary for the Health and Welfare Ministry to launch a media disinformation campaign -- requires a look at how food is distributed in Japan and who does the distributing, pays the bribes and muzzles the law. By Yoichi Clark Shimatsu


O157 Redux: On Sept. 26, the Health and Welfare Ministry led by ''honest reformer'' Naoto Kan, who made his reputation in breaking open the HIV-contaminated blood product scandal but participated in the O157 coverup, reasserted that the stomach bacteria was transmitted in radish sprouts, or kaiware daikon. www.sproutnet.com...

This is but the tip of the iceberg...there is NO system of real monitoring for sale of banned food in place...JMOHO.

Des

reply to post by ThreeNF


New rice planting in this land has now been banned. However it is possible that rice from has been harvested and sold in the period between March and now. Fukushima/Ibaraki/Miyagi produced 1.22 million tonnes of rice last year.

Rice is a staple in Japan. Rice sold can be sold by type, for instance `koshihikari type`, or by area it was grown in. Rice sold by type can be a mixture of rice from many different areas, as long as it all is of that type. Rice sold as from a particular area, say `Nigata` (which is fine), has to be ALL from that area.

Rice grown in Fukushima is not just eaten in Fukushima. It is possible that this rice has been put into say rice crackers (sembe), as the area from which the ingredients has come from does not have to be labelled. It is also possible that it could make its way into rice sold by `type`. Japan does not export much rice, it is mostly for the domestic market. What Japan does export mainly goes to other Asian countries. Desiny, your rice crackers, if an American brand, should be safe!

Just a possibility.

I agree there will be problems with food, and it is worth being cautious.