Radiation risksRadiation-laced Japanese seafood detected in South Korea
The effects of the Japanese nuclear crisis at the Fukushima Daichii atomic energy plant are continuing to ripple across the world
A chef tests seafood for radioactive contamination // Source: philstar.com
The effects of the Japanese nuclear crisis at the Fukushima Daichii atomic energy plant are continuing to ripple across the world.
In nearby South Korea, radioactive contaminants have been increasingly detectedin seafood imported from Japan. So far the country has no plans to ban imports as radiation levels are still far below maximum intake limits.
The Korea Herald reports that in the last two months the Animal, Plant, and Fisheries Quarantine and Inspection Agency has detected multiple instances of radioactive materials like cesium in thirty-two separate shipments of seafood products from Japan.
The latest figures are a 50 percent increase over the twenty-one cases of contaminated seafood detected in the nine months following the accident at the Fukushima Daichii nuclear facility last March.
“The frequency of radiation detection appears to be rising as two reactors at the Fukushima plant are currently leaking radiation,” said an anonymous quarantine and inspection agency official in an interview with the Herald. “But there has not yet been any case where Japanese fisheries products have been banned as the level of cesium found in the products is still far below the international standard.”
The highest readings this year were at 6.24 becquerel, which is roughly 1.7 percent of the maximum intake limit of 370 becquerel.
The quarantine office has begun checking all seafood imports from Japan, but has not suggested that it had any plans to block shipments.
