Teas from Japan…

• October 21, 2013
• Tea_Girls
• News

Here is information on teas from Japan that has been published by “World Tea News” to us, their subscribers, includes some information from Joshua Kaiser (Rishi tea founder- one of our suppliers).  We hope this helps answer some of your questions.

Sofar we, at Sereni-tea, are still selling last years harvest; there is no need for concern about our product.

No tea either freshly picked or packaged has been discovered to be contaminated by radioactive particles.

• Virtually all of Japan’s tea is grown at least 200 to 300 kilometers south of the radiation source. Tea grown in Kagoshima, the nation’s second largest growing region, is on the island of Kyushu, thousands of kilometers away from Fukushima, a distance equivalent to traveling from New York to Denver.
• The Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear plant is along Japan’s eastern seaboard. Prevailing winds blow east, pushing the fallout over the Pacific Ocean away from land.
• Japanese inspectors are testing foods at the source. Japan banned the export of any food products with unusually high readings, despite the fact these readings are generally below health damaging thresholds. The International Atomic Energy Agency reported on April 27 that 39 food samples were tested by the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare in late April from eight prefectures (Chiba, Fukushima, Gunma, Hokkaido, Ibaraki, Kanagawa, Niigata and Yamagata). “Analytical results for all of the samples of various vegetables, mushrooms, beef, seafood and raw unprocessed milk indicated that I-131, Cs-134 and Cs-137 were either not detected or were below the regulation values set by the Japanese authorities,” according to IAEA.
• The tea harvest is well underway. Processing facilities, port authorities and food inspectors in various importing countries are checking for radiation. Stocks of teas that were packaged and stored distant from the fallout zone have been checked. No tea, either freshly picked or packaged has been discovered to be contaminated by radioactive particles.

Rishi Tea founder Joshua Kaiser, who is in Japan meeting with tea officials, has taken a leadership role in gathering information for his customers and tea retailers that buy wholesale. He posted the following on his website with a chart indicating distances to the gardens that supply Rishi.

“It is important to support Japanese farmers and, so far, there is no evidence that Japanese tea is at risk of radiation contamination especially tea harvested or stocked before the disasters. The tea harvested and stocked before the disasters is already in the market and available for purchase. Avoiding Japanese tea for fear of radiation would be an overreaction at this point in time because what you are buying now has already been harvested, sealed, and exported well before the earthquake hit.”

Rishi is monitoring the situation with the intent to continue importing tea.