– Radioactive cesium detected in boar meat in Miyagi Pref. (Mainichi Japan, August 20, 2011):
SENDAI (Kyodo) — Radioactive cesium at a level over four times the government-set safety limit has been detected in the meat of a wild boar captured in Kakuda city, Miyagi Prefecture, the prefectural government said Friday.
It is the first time that radioactive contamination exceeding the safety limit was found in a wild animal or bird in the northeastern Japanese prefecture, local officials said, adding they will ask people in the prefecture not to eat meat of wild animals and birds for the time being.
The meat of the boar, which local hunters caught in the mountains in Kakuda on Aug. 7 in response to a request by the city government to exterminate it, measured 2,200 becquerels of cesium per kilogram. The central government’s provisional safety limit is 500 becquerels per kg.
Miyagi Prefecture borders Fukushima Prefecture, where the badly damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant is located.