Shipment curbs lifted on last 4 types of vegetables from Naraha, Kawauchi

The Japanese government on Feb. 18 lifted shipment restrictions on the last four types of vegetables produced in Naraha town and Kawauchi village, both previously no-go and evacuation zones in Fukushima Prefecture following the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant disaster. As a result, all vegetables grown in the two municipalities can now be shipped for sale, in accordance with the Act on Special Measures Concerning Nuclear Emergency Preparedness. The four types are leafy vegetables not forming heads such as spinach; leafy vegetables forming heads such as cabbage; flowering Brassicaceae such as broccoli; and turnips. In accordance with inspection guidelines for lifting shipment restrictions on garden crops, compiled in 2012, the Fukushima prefectural government twice inspected samples of the four types of vegetables produced at 11 locations each in the two municipalities between October and December last year. As the amount of radioactive cesium in all samples tested turned out to be below the upper limit of 100 becquerels per kilogram as stipulated under the Food Sanitation Law, the prefecture requested the central government on Feb. 17 to lift the restriction. This was the second time for shipment restrictions on vegetables grown in former no-go and evacuation zones to be lifted following the first in the Miyakoji district of Tamura city in March 2013.