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JT completes pre-purchase radioactive material testing of this year's Japanese-domestic leaf tobacco
Tokyo, October 16, 2020 --- Japan Tobacco Inc. (JT) has been conducting pre-purchase radioactive material tests of Japanese-domestic leaf tobacco and a number of other tests at each stage of its production process, using a standard value, since the accident at the TEPCO Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in 2011.
Similar to previous years’ tests on Japanese-domestic tobacco harvest for radioactive material traces, the Company has been conducting radioactive material tests on leaf tobacco before purchase, with the support of tobacco growers. Tests for this year’s Burley have now been completed. None of the leaf tobacco had traces of radioactive material exceeding the JT standard value (Radioactive cesium: 100Bq/kg).
Furthermore, JT will continue with its scheme of testing domestic leaf tobacco after purchase, to test and monitor at each stage of the productions process several times.
We will continue to take all possible measures to ensure quality control for our consumers' continuing patronage of our products.
An outline of the pre-purchase tests and their results is presented as follows.
Outline of pre-purchase testing
- Leaf tobacco: Cured Burley
- Geographical scope: Tochigi, Fukushima, and Miyagi prefectures
- Number of samples: A total of 19 samples from the above prefectures
- Materials tested: 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), Nasu-gun Nasu (Nasu), Nasushiobara (Kuroiso, Takabayashi, Higashinasuno, Nabekake)
Fukushima Prefecture
Kitakata (Komagata), Motomiya (Iwane, Wagisawa), Kawanuma-gun Yanaizu (Yanaizu), Date-gun Kawamata (Iizaka, Yamakiya), Nihonmatsu (Obama, Ota), Minamisoma (Kamimano), Koriyama (Yatagawa)
Miyagi Prefecture
Kami-gun, Kami (Miyazaki)
Of the samples in the 19 areas above, none of the leaf tobacco tested exceeded the JT standard value.
Lastly, JT will discontinue the disclosure of pre-purchase test results after this report (2020). Please refer to the appendix for details.
Appendix:
Discontinuation of disclosure of pre-purchase test results for Japanese-domestic leaf tobacco
Japan Tobacco Inc. (JT) announces that it will discontinue its disclosure of pre-purchase test results for Japanese-domestic leaf tobacco after this report (2020), which has been disclosed on its website since 2011.
Recently, in radioactive material testing on agricultural products conducted by Fukushima Prefecture and other prefectures, there have been virtually no cases where the traces of radioactive material exceeded the standard values, and the Company’s survey is on the decline.
Against this backdrop, with regard to leaf tobacco, areas where the impact of radioactive materials is a concern and areas subject to testing are also decreasing.
In addition, no cases exceeding JT standard value are observed in its test results.
Although the disclosure of its test results will be discontinued, JT will continue with its scheme of testing domestic leaf tobacco upon purchase and use, and will continue to test and monitor each stage of the productions process several times.
We will continue to take all possible measures to ensure quality control for consumers' continuing patronage of our products.