Is radiation still concern in matcha?

[az09]

Im starting to drink matcha tea from japan but concerned if radiation is still a problem in their tea

[JRS22]

Here's a link to the end of a really long thread about radiation. I drink lots of Japanese tea, and I'm careful to order from a vendor that I trust, usually, in my case, O-Cha. They have access to test reports that can verify the safety of their products.

http://www.teachat.com/viewtopic.php?f= ... &start=270

[az09]

Hows Domatcha brand?

[entropyembrace]

Im starting to drink matcha tea from japan but concerned if radiation is still a problem in their tea

Uji, the most important region for matcha production was never affected by contamination by radioactive isotopes.

[JRS22]

I don't drink matcha, and I suspect that the subject of this thread won't attract that many matcha drinkers. Here's the result of a search in the green tea forum.

http://www.teachat.com/search.php?keywo ... mit=Search

[az09]

Thanks for the search results JRS. How ever i still cant find if domatcha is safe and realiable brand. There tea is from kagoshima. Is that region considered safe

[Chip]

Yes to Kagoshima.

[az09]

Thanks, i have however a concern and wasnt able to find anything regarding the video below
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WbX9ubE_hI

This shows that radiation is indeed being detected by the counter. Sorry if this is just repetitive question. I couldnt find the answer for this on the last thread

[entropyembrace]

Thanks, i have however a concern and wasnt able to find anything regarding the video below
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WbX9ubE_hI

This shows that radiation is indeed being detected by the counter. Sorry if this is just repetitive question. I couldnt find the answer for this on the last thread

That video is mostly bull from someone who bought a Geiger counter or scintillation counter and doesn't understand how to use it or what the results mean.

Any agricultural product is going to be slightly radioactive from naturally occurring potassium 40 and other naturally occurring radio-isotopes. There's no reason to think that this guy is detecting anything else.

To determine if a product has been contaminated by fallout from Fukushima requires a spectrometer which is much more expensive and difficult to use. The government of Japan does this kind of testing. Some tea sellers have also hired private labs to do this type of testing independently. iirc O-Cha is one that has done this and they probably sell better matcha than Do matcha anyway.

(edit - Domatcha sends their products to a private lab to be tested too)

You can watch this video if you want an explanation as to why these" put a Gieger counter up to a pile of matcha" videos are garbage: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OO90b7pCb-M

While there was a problem with contamination of a lot of tea from Shizuoka the Caesium 137 that caused the problem is highly soluble and should have mostly been removed from the fields when the contaminated tea was disposed of. That along with the fact that the government and many vendors have become very vigilant checking for contamination and I can honestly say that I feel safe drinking any Japanese tea these days.

[Whalebreath]

That video is mostly bull from someone who bought a Geiger counter or scintillation counter and doesn't understand how to use it or what the results mean.
Any agricultural product is going to be slightly radioactive from naturally occurring potassium 40 and other naturally occurring radio-isotopes. There's no reason to think that this guy is detecting anything else.....
I can honestly say that I feel safe drinking any Japanese tea these days.

^ this

[Kevangogh]

It's been a while, but for some reason the radiation kooks are creeping out over the last few days. I had a guy buy a bag of daily sencha from us, then he contacted me yesterday wanting a full refund because it was shipped from Fukushima, OMG ! He said he didn't want ANYTHING that even passed through Fukushima. It's written all over our site we're from Iwaki City, Fukushima, we're not hiding it nor do we have a reason to, the radiation levels here were about 0.11 microseverts per hour, less than most places on the planet. Anyway, I learned there is no use to reason with this kind of person, so I nicely told him to send it back and I'd give him a refund for the tea. He then said he says he already dumped the "radiated tea" in the trash but still wants a refund. I said no return of the tea, no refund. Now he's saying he's well known on the online tea forums and is threatening to crucify us. I said I don't care how well known he is, and told him to be careful what what he writes and to make sure it's accurate because we'll hold him accountable for any false information he posts about us.

Then I have this other guy wanting the latest radiation certificates for Kagoshima matcha. Huh?

No one has asked us about radiation in at least six months, but all of a sudden they're asking again. I have found that when this happens, it's usually the result of some off the wall web site publishing a new conspiracy theory. At this stage, I just don't even want to bother with this type of customer really, I just suspend their accounts and they can't purchase from us anymore.

[Noonie]

Sorry you have to go through that...I guess operating any business may result in dealing with all sorts of people. I'm sure the hype will go away soon

[JRS22]

Here's a link to the end of a really long thread about radiation. I drink lots of Japanese tea, and I'm careful to order from a vendor that I trust, usually, in my case, O-Cha. They have access to test reports that can verify the safety of their products.

http://www.teachat.com/viewtopic.php?f= ... &start=270

Kevangogh,

I probably should have said that I trust you to review the reports. I didn't intend to send people to you to request them, especially when they're not buying from you.

[DivineAverage]

Overall it seems that people outside of Japan, who have zero actual knowledge or information about the incident or it's implications, are presenting "facts" about radiation levels (especially in matcha) as if they're experts.

While we're all entitled to opinions and theories, they're not facts.

There's an easy solution - if you're THAT worried about it, don't drink it. Problem solved. It leaves more tasty matcha for the rest of us

[Kevangogh]

0.11 µSv / hr

IMG_3550.jpg (40.74 KiB) Viewed 14737 times

I snapped this pic about two weeks ago as I was driving by the meter, it reads 0.115 µSv / hr (that's micro Sieverts per hour) and is located about a block from our office. This is about average to most cities on the planet, lower than some, higher than others. I hear Rome and London are around 2.0...