More beef cattle fed irradiated straw

Fukushima and Niigata prefectures have identified more farms that shipped beef cattle that had been fed straw containing radioactive cesium in amounts above the government standard.

Fukushima Prefecture says 7 farms in 6 municipalities fed their cattle straw left outdoors after the March nuclear accident in the prefecture. The straw was found to contain radioactive cesium in amounts up to 520 times the standard.

The farms shipped 411 head of cattle to meat-processing facilities in 5 prefectures including Tokyo from late March to early July.

Fukushima asked local authorities to trace the meat and carry out radiation checks if any was found.

The prefecture also asked all cattle farms in the prefecture to voluntarily refrain from shipping and transferring their stock for the time being.

In Niigata Prefecture, radioactive cesium levels as high as 15 times the government standard were detected in straw given to beef cattle at 2 farms. The straw was from Miyagi Prefecture, which neighbors Fukushima.

One of the farms has shipped 24 head of cattle.

Investigators have found that a total of 578 head of cattle have been shipped after being fed contaminated straw. The amount of contaminated meat found to have been distributed to markets across the country is expected to rise.