Media
JT completes pre-purchase radioactive material testing of this year's Japanese domestic leaf tobacco
Tokyo, October 14, 2016 --- Japan Tobacco Inc. (JT) has been conducting pre-purchase and a number of other tests at each stage of its production process for radioactive materials in Japanese domestic leaf tobacco, using a standard value, since the accident at the TEPCO Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in 2011.
Prior to this year's Japanese domestic tobacco harvest, the Company has again been conducting radioactive material testing on leaf tobacco before purchase, with the support of tobacco growers. Testing of this year's Burley have now been completed, showing none of the leaf tobacco tested exceeded the JT standard value (Radioactive cesium: 100Bq/kg).
Furthermore, JT will continue with its scheme of testing domestic leaf tobacco after purchase, and testing and monitoring a number of times at each stage of the production process.
Testing scheme for purchase and use of this year's Japanese domestic leaf tobacco
We will continue to take all possible measures to ensure quality control for consumers' continuing patronage of our products.
An outline of the pre-purchase tests and results is presented as follows.
Outline of pre-purchase testing
- Leaf tobacco: Cured Burley tobacco
- Geographical scope: Tochigi, Fukushima, Miyagi, Yamagata and Iwate Prefectures
- Items: A total of 63 samples from the above prefectures
- Material: Radioactive cesium (JT standard value: 100 Bq/kg)
- Institute and equipment: The Company's research centre and ORTEC germanium semi-conducting detectors
Results of the pre-purchase testing
The samples of Burley tobacco from the following areas were tested:
Tochigi Prefecture
Otawara (Kawanishi, Ryogo), Nasushiobara (Kuroiso, Takabayashi, Higashinasuno, Nabekake), Nasu-gun Nasu (Nasu)
Fukushima Prefecture
Koriyama (Iwae, Okuma, Moriyama), Shirakawa (Onoda, Shinobu, Shirasaka), Sukagawa (Inada), Kitakata (Komagata, Kitakata), Tamura (Tokiwa, Funehiki, Segawa, Miyama, Utushi, Yamane), Motomiya (Iwane, Wagisawa, Shiroiwa), Kawamata (Tomita, Iizaka), Yama-gun Kitashiobara (Kitayama), Kawanuma-gun Aizubange (Takadera, Katakado, Yawata), Kawanuma-gun, Yanaizu (Yanaizu), Onuma-gun Mishima (Miyashita), Onuma-gun Aizumisato (Nagaino), Nishishirakawa-gun Izumizaki (Sekihira), Nishishirakawa-gun Nakajima (Nametsu), Higashishirakawa-gun Tanagura (Tanagura), Nishishirakawa-gun Yabuki (Yabuki, Hiroto, Nakahata), Iwase-gun Kagamiishi (Kagamiishi), Ishikawa-gun Ishikawa (Sawada, Yamahashi), Ishikawa-gun Asakawa (Asakawa), Tamura-gun Miharu (Ogisawa, Sawaishi, Miharu), Futaba-gun Kawauchi (Kawauchi), Nihonmatsu (Asahi, Obama, Niidono, Tozawa, Ota)
Miyagi Prefecture
Shibata-gun Kawasaki (Kawasaki), Igu-gun Marumori (Koya, Ouchi, Hippo), Kami-gun, Kami (Miyazaki, Hirohara, Onoda)
Yamagata Prefecture
Obanazawa (Tamano, Tokiwa)
Iwate Prefecture
Ichinoseki (Iwashimizu)
For the samples in the 63 areas, none of the leaf tobacco tested exceeded the JT standard value.