Japan's Radiation Tests Irk Tea Farms - Not so much the tests as the results

[NNN0LHI]

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304665904576380794019253496.html

JAPAN NEWS
JUNE 13, 2011.

By JURO OSAWA

TOKYO—Japan's recent discovery of tea leaves contaminated with radioactive material far from the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant has cast a spotlight on how the country tests for fallout from the accident—and has sparked a backlash from local officials and tea growers who say too-rigid scrutiny could unnecessarily harm sales of the iconic product.

The controversy erupted last week when Shizuoka prefecture, which produces more than 40% of the green tea consumed in Japan, announced that a sample of dry tea leaves from a producer about 355 kilometers from the nuclear plant contained 679 becquerels of radioactive cesium per kilogram. That level exceed the maximum allowable amount of 500 becquerels set just this month by the government.

The prefecture requested the leaves' producer halt shipments and is now testing other samples from the same area.