Are you eating California produce?

Yes to OP: I live in Southern California and eat mostly local produce. I haven't noticed anything different about the look or taste, etc., of produce from California or the West Coast.

One of the above answers discussed holding milk in the freezer awhile, so that the radioactive iodine would dissipate. That's true, but there are other isotopes involved as well. Food preferences aside, I do recommend you do look at the website of Eden Foods, which sells a range of grain-based milk products...my favorite is their rice/soy blend...it's a good flavor, and it's much lower in fat than straight soymilk. The other advantage of Eden Foods is that so far they are the only global food supplier conducting comprehensive radiation testing for the range of products they offer. A link for Eden Foods is near the bottom of the page of an "Airborne Radiation" update page I maintain at the Cybermacro website...here is that link:

www.cybermacro.com...

For example, this month's Voice of America (Japan) story features a new Seattle-based website with current in-Japan radiation readings. That link is also near the bottom of the latest "Airborne Radiation" page (Summer 2011).

I started creating these radiation update pages on Cybermacro in March 2011. If you go to the Cybermacro main page, then click on the button that says Go To The Forums, you will see an entry marked "Macrobiotic Question of the Week." Click on that..then go to the mid-bottom left side of that page, and expand the timeline to 1 year to see all of my earlier entries.

I really enjoy the ATS discussions on Japan's nuclear disaster, and the provided links are good, but very time-consuming to find, in the current ATS format. That's why I started the Cybermacro "Airborne Radiation" updates...it's just links. Since many people in the global macrobiotic (MB) community have friends or family in Japan, I also added the better "in Japan" links (in English) I find, so that they can keep up with current events there.

The MB protocol for surviving airborne radiation from nuclear power releases is to consume 1-2 bowls of miso soup daily...1 level teaspoon miso per bowl. If you are rushed for time, just add filtered hot water to your miso serving in a bowl, blend it, then add enough water to make a serving size. Neither dried miso nor plastic-packed miso has active ingredients. Buy the refrigerated miso, preferably in glass jars; reputable makers such as South River Miso will confirm that their water source for miso is deep well water, preferable to surface water when airborne radiation is a factor. In addition, have 1 postage-stamp-sized serving of kelp (Japanese kombu, Atlantic kelp, or any other high-iodine seaweed), shreddded or minced. Iodine in seaweed is volatile, so it should not be overcooked. Consuming larger amounts of seaweed has been known to create headaches...be careful out there!

When buying fresh produce, consider favoring greenhouse-grown produce, which theoretically would get less exposure to airborne radiation, although I don't imagine many growers can afford to triple-filter their irrigation water. (according to the Forbes blog, Savannah River nuclear plant uses reverse osmosis/carbon filter/ion exchange to filter all radioisotopes out of their water).

I welcome the re-posting on ATS of any links on this topic you find on my "Airborne Radiation" pages...this nuclear disaster is many things, but "quickie" is not going to be one of them.

reply to post by Pervius


Interesting; I live in NorCal. Our local water Co. sends its customers periodic reports on water quality. I have been waiting for a post-Fukishima report and I have got one for 07/01/11. I dug up an old one for comparison and found that the radioactive contaminant level pre-Fukushima was 15 pCi/L (1 pCi is 1 trillionth of a Curie which is an old rad measurement; exposure to 1 Curie would be lethal easily) Now interestingly the post-Fukushima water report is strangely lacking in a radioactive contaminant level; they just left it out.

reply to post by Uphill


Seaweed is the last thing to be eating until various corroborated test results are released for seafood radiation levels. It's like a giant sponge filter, radiation was detected in seaweed along the coast of USA in less than a week after the event occured. I can't seem to re-find the links but it's in the near 1000 page japan thread..

reply to post by LafingWithTears


Ask them for the numbers! Would make for some interesting data methinks. Usually more is telling what is left out (especially with tepco/nuke industry pr in this case).

The fallout has effected our Pineapples. They smell rotten inside. We grow our own pineapples and I'm closer to Japan than you or even Hawaii.

I wonder if Hawaii's Pineapple production will be effected? You might want to avoid that for....what a century or two?

reply to post by GhostR1der


Concerned about seaweed? Many seaweed harvesters still have pre-Fukushima stocks of kelp, etc. For example: www.theseaweedman.com... - he is on the Atlantic coast, in Maine.

Eden Foods has been doing radiation testing of every shipment it receives of the food stocks it sells (including seaweed) since the Fukushima nuclear crisis began. E-mail them if you have questions: www.edenfoods.com...

reply to post by Uphill


Product pipeline time -- the shipping time for the 21st century food distribution system is an important variable to be aware of when deciding where to buy your food items. For example, Eden Foods recently stated on its website that it still has a lot of its popular Japanese food items (including seaweeds) that it received before the March 11th earthquake. So that's something to keep in mind. On some imported food products you will see a stated production date....I found that type of information on feta cheese imported from Greece, at my local Trader Joe's store in L.A. County, here in California.

If you ask your grocer or other food supplier, they will be able to give you some additional information on when exactly that food item was produced. Lots of people will be asking that, after all.

reply to post by Uphill


More on food safety:

I have posted below an e-mail reply I got today from a natural foods company, regarding the safety status of their tea products from Japan:

The supplier of our tea has informed us that the tea affected by the radiation is grown in Northern Japan and our tea is from much further south. Additionally, the tea we currently have is from last year’s harvest.

We are current in the process of having the radiation test results translated into English. When this is available, we can supply this information upon request. Currently, all of our shipments are still being tested for radiation and will continue to be tested for an indefinite period of time. As we receive more information, we will let you know.

I hope this information is helpful. Please let me know if you have any other questions or if there is anything else I can assist you with.

In other words, yes, there are justifiable concerns about possible airborne and seaborne radiation contamination of food products. Those concerns are not limited to seaweeds. Food products most easily contaminated by airborne radionuclides globally include teas and mushrooms, hence my question to the above natural foods supplier about the safety of their tea products.

The website for that particular natural foods company is: www.goldminenaturalfoods.com...