Japan’s Meiji recalls infant formula over cesium traces

Tokyo-based Meiji has recalled 400,000 cans of Meiji Step infant milk powder after tests found traces of radioactive cesium, triggering new concerns about food safety in Japan nine months after Fukushima.

Even though the levels of radioactive cesium identified were well below the government’s permissible limit, the company issued a recall as a precautionary measure.

A Meiji spokesman posited that, when the airborne cesium particles entered the factory, hot air used in the drying process might have caused this contamination.

Although the company was diligent in evaluating radiation levels in water, it did not assess airborne activity, the spokesman added.

The test, which was initiated following a consumer complaint, found 30.8 becquerels per kg of cesium-134 and cesium-137 in the infant formula, compared with the government approved limit of 200 becquerels per kg..

The Meiji Step products affected by the recall were produced at a factory in Saitama prefecture, about 200km south-west of the Fukushima plant, were mostly distributed in May and are set to expire in October next year.

Concerns about food safety have been increasing after the tsunami and subsequent nuclear crisis that engulfed the country in March 2011, and excessive radioactive cesium levels were found in vegetables, tea, milk, beef, seafood and water.