Attention Sushi Lovers!

Radiation in Your Food: Is It Worth Worrying About?
Caroline Russock
Mar 28, 2011 (ivillage.com)

The nuclear crisis in Japan has many concerned about the safety of imported foods. Although Japanese imports only make up about 4 percent of the foods brought into this country, the question of contaminated foods still lingers, especially when it comes to sushi. Higher-end establishments have been known to import top quality fish from Japan, but for the most part the fish served at the majority of sushi counters is not Japanese in origin.

Experts say that Japanese seafood is at a far lower risk of contamination due to the fact that any possible radiation is diluted to trace amounts in large bodies of water. But even with the dilution, nearly all sushi restaurants have eliminated Japanese seafood from their menus. Long story short? Feel free to enjoy all the sushi you'd like. This style of eating might have been created in Japan, but the fish is coming from other waters.

Other import worries come from evidence of extremely high levels of radiation found in spinach, milk and canola grown near the Fukushima plant. To counter any possibility of contaminated foods entering the U.S., last week the F.D.A. put a temporary ban on the importing of food coming from the areas surrounding the plant. The F.D.A. is also screening all foods imported from Japan before being sold to the public. If that's not enough to put your mind at ease, consider also that since 9/11, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the U.S.D.A. has been screening virtually all imports to this country, including all food items. All of these precautions make the chances of contaminated foods making their way into our shores pretty slim.

Still concerned with the possibility of coming in contact with contaminated food? To put all of this worry into perspective, one expert says that you'd have to consume a gallon of contaminated milk each day for one year to absorb as much radiation as you do during a CAT scan, making radiation contamination through food highly unlikely.

Tsunami Alters Sushi Markets

By Florence Fabricant
NYTimes

Seafood supplies in northern Japan were devastated by the tsunami that destroyed the region’s fishing fleets and aquaculture farms as well as the ports themselves. The Japanese daily Asahi Shimbun reported on Tuesday that fishermen in the area are living in shelters, transportation to the famous Tsukiji market in Tokyo is not possible, and there is no ice to keep fish fresh.

So far, this grim picture is not causing serious shortages in American sushi bars, but how the situation will evolve remains to be seen.

“It has definitely affected the market,” said Jack Lamb, an owner of Jewel Bako in the East Village, where most of the fish is imported from Japan. But he said that the restaurant had made adjustments and was now buying fish from Kyushu Island in the south, far from the affected area, and was obtaining mackerel and octopus from sources in the United States.

Nobuyoshi Kuraoka, the owner of Nippon, a restaurant in Midtown, wrote by e-mail from Tokyo, where he was on business, that the “striped jack, yellowtail, sniper fish, sea eels and others are coming from Fukuoka on Kyushu Island through Korean airlines.”

Tadashi Ono, the chef and a partner at Matsuri in Chelsea, also said he is buying from Kyushu, as well as from Australian and New York waters. “Today fish comes from all over the world, so we’re O.K.,” he said.

There have been reports that restaurants and hotels in Asia and elsewhere have canceled all shipments of fresh produce from Japan after radiation turned up in products like milk and spinach.

But restaurateurs in New York said they import almost no fresh produce from Japan. They have also said that their customers do not seem worried. At Sushi Yasuda in Midtown, Scott Rosenberg, an owner, said that just a few customers have asked where the fish was from and whether it was safe. As for produce, he said that occasionally the chefs bring in highly specialized seasonal items, but it’s not the season now.

“We have great microgreens and all those things growing here,” said Richie Notar, a partner in the Nobu chain. “We don’t need to buy from Japan. We have California.” But he is keeping an eye on the supply of imported dry goods, including rice, nori and bonito flakes. “We’re starting to develop other sources, like South Korea, for some of these,” he said. “Our wholesalers have warehouses that are stocked, but who knows what the situation will be in six months in terms of availability or even safety from radiation?”

Reika Alexander, the owner of En Japanese Brasserie in the West Village, said: “We must keep buying what we can from Japan. We need to support Japan now.”