Statement Regarding Japanese Green Tea, the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, and O-Cha.com
The Past
For years, our base of operations, prior to the 9.0 earthquake which occurred on March 11th, 2011 was in Iwaki city, located in the southern most part of Fukushima Prefecture. We used this as a base for our operations and purchased teas from various areas of central and southern Japan (green tea is not actually grown in or near Fukushima - it's too cold). From Iwaki, we would then ship to customers worldwide.
O-Cha.com was greatly affected by the earthquake. Among other things, it demolished the interior of our office and destroyed 2 of our 3 main computers. While all orders prior to March 11th were fulfilled, we ceased selling tea the day of the earthquake. Through numerous aftershocks we cleaned up, expecting to soon continue operations as usual. Unfortunately our office also happened to be located 26 miles (37km) south of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant. While we were never close enough to be affected by a mandatory evacuation, due to prudent concern for our safety from the worsening situation we decided to leave Fukushima temporarily. Temporarily turned into nearly one year.
When it became apparent that fear of radiation would put a serious hamper on our business, we considered shutting down our long established site. Soon after, however, we were offered the opportunity to re-establish in Uji Japan with the gracious help of the Tsuen tea shop located there. We moved there, re-established operations, and continued to ship from there through February 2012.
The Current Situation
O-Cha.com plans to resume shipping once again from Iwaki, Fukushima Japan starting in February, 2012 based on the following:
First, it's where our office and warehouse is located, and it's also home.
The radiation levels have never been significant in Iwaki. At it's peak, the levels were around 1.24 microseverts. Current daily measuring in the neighborhood of our office averages at 0.18 microseverts - an extremely low level. How low? If you were to fly from Frankfurt Germany to Singapore, you would receive 39 microseverts of natural radiation just by sitting on the airplane. That is more than 200 times the amount of the current radiation levels in Iwaki near our office. 0.2 microseverts is also close to the same level of radiation that exists naturally in Rome, Italy year round. The reality is - there is no longer any real reason to be concerned with radiation levels in Iwaki city, Fukushima.
While Iwaki city happens to be where we distribute from, all of the green teas we have ever sold have been and continue to be grown and hermetically sealed in airtight packaging by our suppliers at the places where they are harvested - Southern Japan. In no way has any of our teas ever been exposed to *any* level of radiation. Our teas have been tested out are at ZERO becquerels per kilogram - they are completely safe.
We realize there will be some who will nevertheless not want to buy our products out of a misplaced fear (known in Japanese as fuu hyou higai 風評被害 - damage based on rumor). We realize there will be some who will try to use our location as a competitive advantage against us. Nevertheless, we will continue to operate our business based on real facts, the primary being this:
We personally consume all of our own products and will never sell any product which is contaminated by any chemical, biological, or radiation contaminant. We would discontinue operations before even considering such a thing!
Statement Regarding Radiation in Shizuoka Green Tea
(Developments in the months of late May and June, 2011)
Regarding the purchase of green teas from Japan, whether it be from us or anyone else - Green tea is mostly grown in the southern half of Japan. Even in areas where elevated levels of radiation have been detected such as in Tokyo, the amount is insignificantly low. The tea growing regions we get our tea from are much further south of Tokyo, 100's of miles.
At this time we currently do not sell Shizuoka teas even though we feel they are completely safe. Why? Because low level radiation was actually found in some Shizuoka teas. Although in "most" (but not all) areas of Shizuoka these levels easily fell in the safe range, they were not at "zero." Since we have the option to buy teas at zero levels from areas further south, that's what we buy. We hope to resume selling Shizuoka tea in 2012 provided they are at or near zero levels once again. From what we have seen so far in subsequent harvests, they are once again approaching that level.
Factoid: When a freshly picked tea leaf is processed and dried to make aracha, the concentration of radiation (if there is any in it at all) increases by about FIVE.
Factoid: When a leaf is infused (when you make tea), it is again reduced by about TEN.
Factoid: There was a big argument between several government agencies in Japan whether to make the standard for testing using fresh leaf or dried leaf. Naturally, government officials in Shizuoka wanted the standard to be fresh leaf which shows lower levels but they lost.
Why was "aracha" made the standard and not "freshly picked" leaf? Because some leaf is ground up into powder to make ice cream, latte's, etc.
When "aracha" became the new standard, contaminated tea exceeding 500 were found in a few parts of Shizuoka.
Additional Information
We provide the following information regarding safety standards of green tea and radiation to help you make decisions when purchasing green tea.
First, a few key words to understand...
Aracha - Green tea leaves that have been picked, steamed, dried and rolled. Nearly all of the moisture has been removed.
Seicha - Aracha which is further processed to take out the stems and subjected to the final roasting. This is the finished product.
Becquerel (symbol Bq) (pronounced: 'be-kə-rel) is the SI-derived unit of radioactivity. This is basically the unit used to measure radiation contamination in food.
Standard for radiation in green tea and other food products (dried, processed aracha)
| Country |
Max becquerels per kilogram |
|---|---|
| International | 1000 becquerels per kilogram |
| USA | 1200 becquerels per kilogram |
| EU | 500 becquerels per kilogram |
| Japan | 500 becquerels per kilogram |
Last but not least....
ALL Green Teas being sold at O-Cha.com Green Teas have been tested out at "ZERO" becquerels per kilogram
