Japan reassures fish consumers of contamination-free marine products

The Japanese Government has reassured its citizens that all fish reaching markets are safe for consumption, ruling out the reports of contaminated marine products being shipped for sale.

Experts have revealed the contamination from radioactive cesium has decreased since March 2011 meltdown of the Fukushima nuclear plant and now poses little danger to consumers, the Japan Times reports.

According to the report, the marine life sampling data has not yet shown any alarming signs regarding the presence of strontium in the marine products.

However, fewer studies have been conducted to test the presence of strontium due to the high costs involved.

The experts clarified that far less strontium is believed to have been released into the environment, as compared to cesium.

Cesium is believed to cause cancer through internal exposure, and strontium can accumulate in bones and lead to bone cancer.

Meanwhile, Tokyo Electric Power Co. (Tepco) had detected 400,000 becquerels per liter of beta ray-emitting substances, such as strontium, on Thursday in water samples taken from the observation well located 15 meters from a storage tank.

Tepco also said that about 400 tons of radioactive groundwater is flowing into the Pacific Ocean every day, but it believes this flow has had only a minor impact on fish.

According to the Fisheries Agency data, some 53 percent of the samples caught from March through June 2011 contained radioactive cesium exceeding the government safety threshold of 100 becquerels per kilogram.

However, the ratio has consistently decreased, falling to 2.2 percent from July to September this year.

The government has also suspended commercial fishing off Fukushima Prefecture, except for trial operations.