Nuclear rumors push prices down for Fukushima beef! FUKUSHIMA, Japan — Beef cattle farmers in Fukushima Prefecture, who purchase calves to rear and fatten for market, are suffering due to the persistently low wholesale prices for their beef. Although nearly four years have passed since the accident at Tokyo Electric Power Co.s Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, groundless rumors about radioactive contamination persist, and wholesale prices of Fukushima beef remain about 10 percent lower than the average market price. In the five years until last year, the price of calves jumped 150 percent. Cattle farms say they are making hardly any profit, and businesses continue to shut down. Seeing the prices driven down just because the cattle come from Fukushima Prefecture is frustrating, lamented cattle farmer Hiroshi Numano, 64, from Tanagura, as he fed rice straw to the approximately 200 head of cattle in his cattle shed. Numano buys his calves at around 10 months old and spends the next 20 months raising them until they weigh approximately 800 kilograms (about 1,760 pounds) before selling them. But ever since the nuclear accident, prices for beef from cattle raised in the prefecture have sharply dropped. Shipping was also restricted for a time as the cattle were being fed rice straw contaminated with radioactive cesium. By September 2009, a system was established to inspect all cattle, and shipping resumed, but at Tokyo Central Meat Wholesale Market - the largest destination for the cattle - the price per carcass is 100,000 yen (about $850) cheaper than that for cattle from other prefectures. Fukushima cattle are raised in the best environment possible, and I have complete confidence in the quality of their meat. I wish they would set the price to at least the same as those in other surrounding prefectures, said Numano. Genichi Koshizuka, 72, the chief executive officer of meat wholesaler Koshizuka, said: In addition to the meat quality, both the quality of fat and the ratio of fat to meat in Fukushima beef are of a high-standard. But supermarkets, department stores, and shops that sell directly to consumers just arent buying. Kuniyoshi Kanazawa, head of the stock-breeding section of JA Zennoh Fukushima, a prefectural headquarters of the National Federation of Agricultural Cooperative Associations, said, Efforts to explain to consumers shunning Fukushima beef that its safe to eat may be insufficient. The steep rise in the prices of calves is also troubling farmers. Due to a range of reasons including declining numbers of cattle breeders, there is a national shortage of calves. Areas where cattle have been reared the longest are registered as their production areas, so calves that were born in Fukushima Prefecture but raised in a different prefecture will not be labeled Fukushima beef. For this reason, calves born in Fukushima Prefecture are being bought and sold for high prices. According to the Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries Ministry, there were 324 cattle farms in Fukushima Prefecture as of February last year. After the nuclear accident, 120 went out of business and the number of farms fell by roughly 30 percent. Making ends meet is not very feasible at the moment, a cattle farmer said. Due to delays in decontaminating grass on river banks that supply calves feed in Fukushima Prefecture, the number of cattle breeders has also decreased by roughly 30 percent. The prefecture worries that all its producers may soon disappear. To address concerns over safety, the prefecture samples and tests meat from all its cattle. If the amount of radioactive cesium exceeds the regulated standard, the animal is euthanized. Since the standard became 100 becquerels per 100 kilograms in October 2012, no cattle have exceeded this amount. Within the prefecture, prices of produce including peaches, pears and tomatoes has also remained low. The prefecture is now carrying out a campaign to emphasize the safety of Fukushima Prefecture farm products by accepting foreign inspection groups and inviting people from other prefectures on monitoring tours to come and taste Fukushima food. We want to continue to provide consumers with fast and accurate information and will endeavor to wipe out rumors, said a prefectural official in charge of the campaign. stripes/news/pacific/nuclear-rumors-push-prices-down-for-fukushima-beef-1.324730
Posted on: Sat, 24 Jan 2015 20:48:16 +0000
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