– #Radioactive Manure from Cows Bought from Fukushima (EX-SKF, August 19, 2011):
Shimane Prefecture, in Chugoku region, announced that a high level of radioactive cesium has been detected from manure from the cows purchased from Fukushima Prefecture in May and June.
They were not fed with radioactive rice hey.
Some people in Japan suspected from the beginning when the meat cows from Fukushima were found with radioactive cesium that it was not just from the feed but from air and water. They were dismissed by the government officials who insisted the problem was just the radioactive rice hay.
Both the national government and the Fukushima prefectural government encouraged the cattle farmers in the evacuation zones in Fukushima to sell their cows and pigs to cattle farmers outside Fukushima, and many farmers bought them. Now they are being raised all over Japan.
From Asahi Shinbun (5:00AM JST 8/20/2011):
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Shimane Prefecture announced on August 19 that radioactive cesium was detected at two cattle farms out of 15 that had purchased meat cows from Fukushima Prefecture in May and June. At one of the farms, the level exceeded the provisional safety limit (400 becquerels/kg). The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries had issued a notice earlier to Shimane Prefecture that it was free to move and ship meat cows, based on the survey results from Fukushima Prefecture.
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In Shimane, radioactive rice hay from Miyagi Prefecture was used at some cattle farms, and some manure has been found with radioactive cesium. The cows, whose manure was found to be radioactive this time, are not at these farms.
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According to Shimane Prefecture, the 15 cattle farms purchased the total 77 cows at the temporary cattle market in Fukushima, which included cows from the farms near Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant. The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries notified on July 21 that the cows and the manures should be kept on the farms. However, on August 11, the ministry notified the Shimane prefectural government that 64 cows could be shipped because they were not fed with radioactive rice hay.
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However, Shimane Prefecture did its own survey and found out that the manure at one cattle farm that had purchased 2 Fukushima cows was tested for 2,700 becquerels/kg of radioactive cesium, and the one at another cattle farm that had purchased 3 cows was tested for 100 becquerels/kg. The prefecture will test all 77 cows for radioactive materials in their excrement and urine.