Edible wild plants in Fukushima: Still radioactive

May 14, 2014

Fukushima edible wild plants still contaminated

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/news/20140514_16.html

Fukushima Prefecture has restricted shipment of 7 varieties of edible wild plants after detecting high levels of radioactive materials in them.

Officials checked samples of the harvested plants on Tuesday. They found radioactivity exceeding the government safety limit of 100 becquerels per kilogram.

The testing showed contamination of 700 becquerels in fiddleheads, 430 becquerels in varieties of bracken, and 460 becquerels in Japanese spikenard.

Municipalities restrict shipments when they find high levels of radioactivity in the product.

Of the 383 samples tested this season, 16 items or 4.2 percent exceeded the safety limit.
The percentage of samples with high levels of radioactivity has fallen from 11.4 percent last year, and 19.5 percent in 2012.

Prefectural officials say the high levels can be attributed to the radioactive substances still remaining on the surface of mountains in the area.

May 14, 2014 - Updated 03:27 UTC