Cattle farmers in Japan's Fukushima prefecture have resumed beef exports to the United States for the first time in 30 months.
Farmers celebrated the shipment of three cattle with a ceremony on Sunday. The leader of a local agricultural cooperative said resumption of export was a great relief for Fukushima farmers who have been suffering from the effects of last year's nuclear disaster.
The three cattle will be processed in Japan and the meat will be sold to upmarket restaurants in the United States, Japanese media reported.
Japanese beef export to the United States were suspended due to an outbreak of the foot-and-mouth disease in southern Japan in 2010. But the embargo was lifted in August.
Cattle in Fukushima undergo radiation tests before shipment, but prices of its beef are 70 to 80 percent of pre-disaster levels. Livestock farmers hope the resumption of exports will help allay concerns about radioactive contamination.
The Fukushima accident of March 11, 2011 sent radio active materials into the ocean and atmosphere, contaminated the food and water supply, and forced the evacuation of 160,000 residents in a 30-kilometer radius of the Fukushima- Daiichi nuclear power plant whose reactors were knocked out in the quake-triggered massive tsunami. Most of the surrounding areas of the plant still continue to be a no entry zone.
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