Hong Kong officials report imported Japanese oatmeal is ‘radioactive’
Officials with the Centre for Food Safety (CFS) of the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department in Hong Kong announced to the public the discovery of radioactive oatmeal imported from Japan during routine surveillance.
According to a CFS release Wednesday, low levels of Cesium was detected in samples of the Japanese product, Nihonshokuhin Premium Pure Oatmeal; however, health authorities clearly state their is NO health concern in consuming the affected product.
Even if a consumer were to ingest a large amount of the oatmeal, they would not have adverse health effects. This is why a recall of the product has been initiated.
According to the release:
“The oats sample was collected from a local supermarket for radiation testing under the regular Food Surveillance Programme,” the CFS spokesman said.
“The test result showed that a low level of a radioactive substance, Cesium-137 (Cs-137), was detected at 7 Bq/kg. However, the detected level did not exceed the guideline levels of the Codex Alimentarius Commission (i.e. 1,000 Bq/kg),” he added.
“The internal dose of radioactive substances of high consumers from consuming the oats sample for one year is approximately 0.003 millisievert (mSv), far less than the radiation dose received during a chest X-ray examination (about 0.05 mSv),” he said.
The CFS has been conducting radiation testing on foods imported from Japan since March 2011, after the Fukushima nuclear power plant incident in Japan where radioactive materials were released into the environment and atmosphere.
Since the Japan disaster, Hong Kong CFS has conducted nearly 91,000 tests of food imported from Japan screening out items that are radioactive.
Hong Kong health officials say the CFS will continue to closely monitor information from Japan as well as the radiation testing results of Japanese food products in Hong Kong and elsewhere. It will review and adjust, if necessary, the surveillance strategy on food products imported from Japan in a timely manner, making reference to the recommendations of international authorities, to safeguard food safety.
Nihonshokuukin Premium Oatmeal is produced by Nippon Food Manufacturer in Hokkaido, Japan.