Miyagi lifts all shipment restraints on rice produced in prefecture

Mainichi Japan
September 30, 2011

Under a cloudy sky, Akira Sudo is seen amidst his rice paddies in Tome, Miyagi Prefecture, on Aug. 3

SENDAI (Kyodo) — The Miyagi prefectural government lifted on Thursday all shipment restraints imposed on rice newly harvested in the northeastern prefecture, with no radioactive material found in the crop from a location in the town of Shichigahama.

The local government determined freshly harvested rice in its prefecture as being safe after traces of radioactive cesium below allowable limits were found in rice from only nine of the 381 locations subject to its testing.

“I want consumers to taste without anxiety the delicious rice produced in Miyagi Prefecture,” Gov. Yoshihiro Murai said at a news conference.

Amid concern over the safety of crops in the wake of the nuclear crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant in neighboring Fukushima Prefecture, the Miyagi prefectural government plans to run campaigns to promote the safety of rice produced in the prefecture.

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