This news story does remind me of the old Japanese sci fi movie "Attack of the Mushroom People"
Posted on 08/14/2011 4:47:37 PM PDT by DogByte6RER
Mushrooms Join Growing List of Radioactive Threats to Japan’s Food Chain
Mushrooms joined the threats to Japan’s food chain from radiation spewed by Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear plant, as the country expands efforts to limit the effects of the disaster.
Japan is under pressure to enhance food inspections as it has no centralized system for detecting radiation contamination. About two-thirds of Japan’s prefectures now plan to check rice crops, the Mainichi newspaper reported yesterday, citing its own survey. Half of Japan’s rice is grown within range of emissions from the crippled nuclear plant, and farmers are awaiting the results of tests before harvesting begins this month.
“By strengthening inspection on rice, we want to make sure only safe produce are in the market,” Agriculture Minister Michihiko Kano said at a press conference on Aug. 12.
Nameko mushrooms grown in the open air in Soma, a city about 40 kilometers (25 miles) north of the plant damaged in the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, were found to contain nine times the legal limit of cesium, the local government said Aug. 12. Japan’s farm ministry asked growers in Fukushima prefecture to refrain from harvesting mushrooms off raw wood left outside, public broadcaster NHK reported Aug. 13.
Authorities in Fukushima and neighboring prefectures are conducting spot checks on a range of products in cooperation with local farmers. Radiation exceeding safety levels has been found in produce, tea, milk, fish and beef sourced as far as 360 kilometers from the nuclear plant.
Importing Vegetables
Kansai Super Market Ltd. (9919) bought a 30 percent stake in Masami Cattle Ranch Inc. in California, to enable the farm to expand production and supply vegetables to Kansai stores in Japan, according to a statement the Hyogo prefecture-based supermarket chain made to the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
(Excerpt) Read more at businessweek.com ...
This news story does remind me of the old Japanese sci fi movie "Attack of the Mushroom People"
It is ironic that the one country in the world that created a monster from their fear of atomic power (Gojira, aka Godzilla) and won’t allow American Nuclear boats and ships in their ports is now threatened by radiation.
Oh my God! Aaron Sorkin call your doctor!
You have to wonder how the Japanese version of psilocybin is working over there when coated with nuclear radiation.
Does it make your hallucinations glow in the dark?
Holy Shiitake!.......
Food inspection is a big story in Japan right now. NHK ran a story today about how the rice harvest is being affected. Two prefectures, Shizuoka and Kanagawa (I think), got OKs today to sell their rice, but everyone wants to buy new harvest Kyushu rice now. The government is trying to get a plan together to get people to accept rice from northern Japan which will be harvested in the fall.
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