Fukushima, Miso Soup and Me

BACKSTORY

We can never be too careful when it comes to feeding ourselves and our families. There are no safe foods any longer. Only safer foods.

One of the personal, hardest things I did right after the Fukushima Diachii nuclear power plant tragedy and disaster, on March 11, 2011, was to give up my beloved miso soup. I had been eating miso soup daily for many decades. And I thought to myself, I am probably never going to be able to eat it again. And for me, now, three-plus years later, that remains true.

More recently because of my getting very involved in Fukushima and the issue of radiation from it, because of my interest in eating healthy food for the last 40 years and because I believe I am what I eat, I began researching the food that I had been eating and was eating. Was it radioactive? Where did it come from? I knew that I did not knowingly want to eat any food from Japan. And I knew that I wanted to tell others about food that could be radioactive due to Fukushima, just as I had been telling them for decades about vegetarianism, veganism, the importance of eating only organic, not eating GMO's, that we are what we eat, and on and on.

Sheila Parks in tyvek hazmat suit, People's Climate March, NYC
(Image by Corinne Smith)   Details   DMCA

Because miso soup is included in almost all, if not all, of the lists of what is good to eat to combat and detox from radiation, I decided to start my own miso soup investigation.

Miso soup is often eaten by health-conscious people, and I am a very health-conscious person. I have been an organic vegetarian for 40 years or so - no fish, fowl, meat -- and in and out of veganism. I made this change in my life for health, spiritual, ethical, and sustainability reasons. Forty years ago, it was neither fashionable nor trendy, but rather, on the fringes. It was a very easy move for me and I never wanted to go back. I still find being a vegan hard because I like cheese, yogurt, kefir and eggs a lot, but when Fukushima happened, so many of the health-food people said to go vegan that I did - again. Now, since Fukushima, and all the "to eat" lists that miso soup is on, it appears that many more people are thinking about eating miso, talking about eating miso or are already eating it anew.

Because miso is known for its healing properties in general, as well as its healing of radiation sickness, as a detox for radiation, and perhaps even healing and/or preventing cancer, it is often - if not always - listed as something to eat now to heal from the radiation from Fukushima that we might have been or are currently exposed to. A scholarly article and experiment about miso by Hiromitsu Watanabe in 2013 on the healing aspects of miso is often quoted. Given all this current emphasis on eating miso, I felt compelled to do further research to confirm my understanding that miso does indeed come from Japan, before I began to suggest to others that they reconsider eating miso after Fukushima.

I do not write this paper to denounce miso nor to decry its efficacy. I ate miso soup consciously and intentionally for decades and I miss it a lot. I write this paper to question how safe it is to eat it today, after Fukushima, how safe it is to eat anything that comes from Japan now -- no matter how small the amount and no matter how safe it supposedly is. How do we know whether or not to trust those who do the measurements and tell us it is all right to eat foods from Japan?

I also write this paper because I think it is crucial that we all stay as healthy as we possibly can, given all the radiation and contamination from Fukushima, Hanford Nuclear Reservation in the state of Washington, Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP), in New Mexico, and all the other nuclear power plants in the world. In 2011, AP reported from an investigation they did that "Radioactive leaks [were] found at 75% of US nuclear sites." I think it is crucial that we mitigate what is happening to our planet and to us because of Fukushima. We need all the information we can get. I am not an "either/or," but rather a "both/and" woman. That means, to borrow from Dorothy Day, I like to do both: not only stop the speeding train, i.e., act to shut down all nuclear power plants now, to advocate for change to solar, wind, geo-thermals and to work to get an international team in charge of Fukushima; but also and simultaneously to strive to help the survivors of that speeding train, and that means all of us, and especially, of course, all the children of the world. And part of this mitigation means we have to take care of ourselves. Like in an airplane when the oxygen masks come down, the adult has to put theirs on first, before putting the child's on -- or both adult and child can die. To mitigate the situation now, right now, for every human being and animal on the planet as best we can, leads me to miso soup.

JAPANESE FARMERS SPEAK OUT ABOUT CONTAMINATED FOOD IN JAPAN

My instinct not to eat food that comes from Japan was very strongly confirmed when I watched a June 6, 2013 video and read the accompanying text under it: "Fukushima Farmers vs Japanese Government: 'Our Farmland Has Been Seriously Contaminated!'" in which farmers talk about food they are growing and selling after Fukushima. It gives one of the most honest and forthright assessments of the situation that I have seen. And it is first-hand experience from the farmers. It is the "38^th National Action Day of Environmental Pollution Victims: Negotiations with TEPCO/Japanese Government." One of the farmers says, "I know there is contamination in what we grow. I feel guilty about growing and selling them to consumers".We are not removing the contamination." I don't see how the situation can have gotten any better. Only worse.

HOW MUCH RADIATION IS IT LEGAL TO EAT, IN JAPAN AND THE USA?

John LaForge, co-director of Nukewatch, a nuclear watchdog and environmental justice group in Wisconsin , tells us, "Japan has decided that fish contaminated with fewer than 100 Becquerels per kilogram (Bq/kg) of cesium-137 is good enough to eat. Some local officials have set a stricter bar of 50 Bq/kg."

LaForge continues, "In the U.S. the permissible level of cesium in food is 1,200 Bq/kg. Canada allows 1,000 Bq/kg. The difference is startling. The huge discrepancy allows importation by the U.S. and Canada of what Japan considers highly contaminated fish, vegetables and meat. Rice, fish, beef and other Japanese exports poisoned by nuclear power's single worst nightmare is doubtless being consumed in the United States." It is unconscionable that the USA and Canada have set their bars for the permissible level of Cesium or other radionuclides in food to be so much higher than Japan's limits. For me, there is never any permissible level for any country to allow radionuclides in our food. Some noted nuclear scientists quoted by Beyond Nuclear say that "There is No Safe Dose of Ionizing Radiation." I agree. My article about the Pacific Ocean and my suggestion about food from the ocean may also be useful in this regard.

NAGASAKI, JAPAN BOMBING BY USA AND MISO SOUP

Much attention is also being paid now to Dr. Shinichiro Akizuki and his treatment of patients at or very near the epicenter of the Nagasaki bombing by the USA during WWII. Akizuki was the director of the Saint Francis Hospital in Nagasaki at the time. He treated patients at the hospital not only with miso soup, but also with a very strict macrobiotic diet - both before and after the bombing. Akizuki thought that it was the miso soup and this diet that saved both him and his patients from dying, while others died and/or suffered horribly from burns and radiation sickness.

I have been ruminating on this for some time now. How could eating miso soup and seaweed that came from Ground Zero possibly have protected anyone from anything? Maybe I should/could/would go back to eating miso soup after all? But no matter what anyone said, I knew that path was not for me. We all draw our lines in the sand in different places.

This quote from a report on Akizuki and his work helped my thinking on this a lot. "Since the hospital was luckily used as a storage center for miso, soy sauce, and seaweed, as well as brown rice of that communal area, the hospital staff could supply their patients with traditional food. As a result, he was able to help many people survive from the direct injury, while other survivors perished or suffered from severe radiation sickness." So they were eating food from before the bombing of Nagasaki, not after. That confirmed my thoughts about not eating food from Japan after Fukushima. My questions, though, about where their storage center was and how it was protected from the bombing of Nagasaki, linger.

CHERNOBYL AND MISO SOUP

The nuclear catastrophe at Chernobyl occurred on April 26, 1986. No matter how much I search, I cannot find a citation for what I have read in a number of articles about there being truckloads of miso going to Ukraine/Belarus after Chernobyl. Perhaps the story is apocryphal. But in any case, since Chernobyl was before Fukushima, miso from Japan could have been used without the fear of its being irradiated and contaminated. Incidentally, I ran off to my local health food store right after Fukushima and bought some kelp that I was sure was on their shelves before Fukushima happened.

WHAT IS MISO?

Before going any further, an explanation of what miso is, and what it is made of, is necessary. Miso is a thick paste, most often made from soybeans (but also from rice, barley, rye, buckwheat, millet, azuki beans, chickpeas and other grains), salt and koji culture. Miso is always fermented. Miso 101 from Hikari Miso Co., located in Nagano, Japan, is an easy, understandable read about miso. A History of Miso and Soybean Chiang is a very detailed and interesting account.

HOW IS MISO FERMENTED?

Miso is always fermented with a mold culture, a fungus called Aspergillus oryzae, or koji. This mold culture, koji, always comes from Japan. Here is a major Japanese source where you can learn more about koji.

Another explanation says it this way, "The starter culture for miso is called koji. Koji is prepared by inoculating steamed rice with the fungus Aspergillus oryzae (in some cases barley replaces rice). The rice koji is then added to steamed soyabeans and allowed to ferment. Miso is naturally fermented and can be left unpasteurized, aging in wooden casks."

WHAT ARE THE ORIGINS OF MISO?

William Shurtleff is an expert on miso, perhaps the expert on miso in today's world. In 2007, he and Akiko Aoyagi, in a "History of Miso and Soybean Chiang," end with this statement: "Today, the northeastern provinces are known as the 'miso heartland' of Japan; the per-capita consumption there is the highest in the nation and the ancient homemade-miso tradition is still very much alive. These facts, combined with the archaeological evidence indicating early mastery of salt-pickling and fermentation, move some scholars to go so far as to trace the origins of miso (and shoyu) to this part of Japan rather than to China or Korea."

WHAT IS KOJI?

Shurtleff and Aoyagi give a very detailed, with dates included, "History of Koji -- Grains and/or Soybeans Enrobed with a Mold Culture (300BCE to 2012)." They provide the following description: "Koji is a culture prepared by growing either Aspergillus oryzae or Monascus purpureus mold on cooked grains and/or soybeans in a warm, humid place. Koji serves as a source of enzymes that break down (or hydrolyze / digest / split) natural plant constituents into simpler compounds when making miso, soy sauce, sake, amazake, and other fermented foods. Its fragrant white (or red) mycelium, which looks somewhat like the surface of a tennis ball, has a delightful aroma resembling that of mushrooms."

WHERE DOES KOJI MOLD/CULTURE COME FROM?

After much research, the main thing I can say about Aspergillus orzyae is that it can be found in air, water and soil. I do not understand at all why it comes only from Japan. I cannot help but wonder if we can get Aspergillus orzyae elsewhere. Perhaps, China? Because whether or not it originated in Japan or not, it certainly was used there a very long time ago.

However, wherever miso originated, China, Korea or Japan, every article I read said that today koji comes only from Japan: "Koji Mold is only found and exists in Japan and is considered to be a valuable asset and more like cultural heritage that has been managed and nurtured by our ancestors in the past. In 2006 The Brewing Society of Japan has officially recognized Koji Mold as a national mold. Koji Mold is classified as Aspergillus genus, filamentous (stringlike) mold with a spore whose size is 5-10 ÃŽ ¼m. Its weight is so light that 1g of Koji mold contains 10 billion spores. Different from plants, Koji Mold is non-photosynthetic and asexual (no distinction between male and female)."

In their aforementioned "History of Koji....," Shurtleff and Aoyagi discuss its early origins: "725 CE -- The Harima no Kuni Fudoki [Geography and Culture of Harima province], from Japan, is the first document that mentions koji outside of China. It states that by the early 8^th century in Japan, koji was being made using airborne koji molds." [I called and spoke briefly on the telephone with Shurtleff on January 31, 2014, and he said it was fine to quote him.]

A 2008 paper in Oxford Journals' DNA Research about Aspergillus orzyae sheds some light on the production and distribution of the mold in Japan. Further research would need to be done to see whether or not these figures are still true in 2014. "Figure 1 [depicts] A historical signboard of a producer of A. oryzae conidiospores. Aspergillus oryzae conidiospores are industrially produced and are distributed to fermentation companies. Two suppliers were established 600 years ago (Muromachi period). No other suppliers were established before A.D. 17--18th. The figure shows a photograph of an original signboard, Kuro-ban (black stamp), prepared under the license of Koji-za, the association of A. oryzae conidiospores suppliers during the Muromachi period. Currently there are five major distributors in Japan supplying A. oryzae conidiospores to 4500 sake (Japanese alcoholic beverage, ca. 1900 brewers), miso (soybean paste, ca. 1200 brewers) and shoyu (soy sauce, ca. 1500 brewers) brewers in Japan, excluding several of the biggest soy-sauce companies""

EMAIL CONVERSATIONS WITH THREE COMPANIES ABOUT THEIR MISO

To probe further about the sources of koji, I initiated email conversations with three companies about their miso: one in Japan, one in the USA and one in the UK. I asked where their koji came from, and if it was tested for radiation and if so, where and by whom. Each company stated that they use koji from Japan to make their miso. Their answers varied about where in Japan the koji came from and if tested and how, but suffice to say that the answers from all three companies did nothing to allay my fears about eating miso. These email exchanges are in the APPENDIX at the end of this paper.

NOTABLE VOICES ON FUKUSHIMA, FOOD AND HOT PARTICLES

As I was writing this article, several well known no nukes experts/activists, a radiation expert and a Tokyo doctor who moved to western Japan, away from Tokyo, confirmed my worst fears about eating post Fukushima foods from Japan. This, of course, includes my beloved miso soup, with koji culture always sourced from Japan.

In an interview with Dr. Helen Caldicott by Oliver McElligott for Community radio BayFM broadcasting out of Byron Bay, Australia and published February 26, 2014, Dr. Caldicott says at 11:10 into the recording --huge areas of Japan are contaminated. The food is contaminated and the fish"." At 15:12, McElligott tells her he remembers her saying, "Don't eat sushi." At 15:18 she says --don't eat any Japanese food. None. No rice. No meat. No seaweed. Nothing."

At a presentation in Kyoto, Japan (mostly in Japanese), published March 24, 2014, Caldicott points to a map of Japan called "LOCAL FALLOUT" and says "As you can see, the whole land mass is contaminated to a greater or lesser extent."

In an April 3, 2014, Fairewinds transcript from a video by Marco Kaltofen, with an introduction by Arnie Gundersen, we learn that the hot particle sample they examined --came from the Nagoya in Japan. It's 460 kilometers from the accident site. That's about 300 miles away." (Meltdowns involving nuclear fuel can create "hot particles."

The fuel first vaporizes and then cools into microscopic particles that have a tendency to aggregate together. They are often carried by the winds. Some are in a size range easy to inhale and capable of lodging in our lungs.) "Even a single hot particle consumed or inhaled into the body can cause a cancer," says Dr. Andy Kanter, MD, MPH, at a May 4, 2012 NYC Press Conference about Fukushima

Kaltofen also defines Becquerel for us: "In Japan, we measure radiation in Becquerels. A Becquerel is obviously named after someone. It's named after Henri Becquerel. And a Becquerel means one radioactive disintegration per second. Now in Japan, if your food has more than 100 Becquerels in a kilogram, about 45 Becquerels in a pound, then it's not considered safe to eat. The number is a bit higher in the United States, but if we use 100 Becquerels per kilogram as a guide -- it's something too radioactive to eat-- So, the number of Becquerels is one measure of how radioactive something is and is what a Geiger counter measures. If a Geiger count clicks five times every second, that is five Becquerels. If it clicks five times over a ten second period, that is half a Becquerel. The Becquerels measure how fast the counter is clicking. In other words, the Becquerel is like a speedometer (which measures miles per hour) not an odometer (which measures total number of miles).

On June 27, 2014, Radiation expert Kevin Kamps of Beyond Nuclear was interviewed about Fukushima on NEXT NEWS NETWORK. At 12:37 the interviewer asks Kamps, -- what about the food industry, are they doing any testing?" Kamps responds, "they're doing woefully inadequate testing ... in fact United States regulations are much weaker than Japan's ... so Japan has a standard of 100 becquerels per kilogram of radioactive cesium in food ... that's 100 radioactive disintegrations per second per second, per second, per second, ongoing in 2.2 lbs of food. Here in the United States, our standard is 1,200 becquerels of cesium per kilogram of food ... our standards are twelve times weaker ... it means we could be importing food unfit for human consumption in Japan, and it's perfectly legal to serve it to children on the dinner table here in the United States."

In an interview published on February 13, 2014, Tokyo physician Dr. Shigeru Mita talks about his concerns with people, especially children, living in Tokyo. He responds to a question by interviewer Nelson Groom about the food from Tokyo: "What are your thoughts on food contamination? Do you think there are any dietary precautions that people should be taking? Dr. Mita: "In Japan, commercial distribution is prosperous, so some of the contaminated food is definitely coming to Tokyo. A lot of people claim that we have to eat all of the local products to sustain the economy, but I think that we should be testing everything thoroughly, and that at least children should be spared from eating food with any risk of contamination."

In July 2014, the World Network For Saving Children From Radiation posted an interview with Dr. Shigeru Mita, who stated, "It is clear that Eastern Japan and Metropolitan Tokyo have been contaminated with radiation. Contamination of the soil can be shown by measuring Bq/kg. Within the 23 districts of Metropolitan Tokyo, contamination in the east part is 1000-4000 Bq/kg and the west part is 300-1000 Bq/kg. The contamination of Kiev, the capital city of Ukraine, is 500 Bq/kg (Ce137 only). West Germany after the Chernobyl accident has 90 Bq/kg, Italy has 100 and France has 30 Bq/kg on average. Many cases of health problems have been reported in Germany and Italy. Shinjuku, the location of the Tokyo municipal government, was measured at 0.5-1.5 Bq/kg before 2011."

Given these extremely dangerous levels of radiation in Tokyo, I urge you to sign and then share widely this petition by Dr. Carol Wolman, MD, in the USA, asking "radioactive Tokyo" to resign as the host of the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.

The Fukushima Fallout Awareness Network (FFAN) has filed a Citizen Petition with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to lower significantly the levels of Cecium 134 and 137 allowed in our food, supplements and pharmaceuticals. Please sign and share widely their petition and see there also Kimberly Roberson's book Silence Deafening.

Meanwhile, the government of Japan continues to push aggressively on with exporting their food. On June 14, Iori Mochizuki tells us in his Fukushima Diary that the "Japanese government aims to double the food export by 2020. They are investing to promote food from and made in Japan collaborating with 'Cool Japan'"The budget includes the exhibition cost of 1.1 billion yen for EXPO Milan. From the research of Fukushima Diary, this budget to increase Japanese food export has been skyrocketing since 2012"In order to 'restore' the credibility and 'brand' of Japanese food damaged by Fukushima accident, the government of Japan budgeted 1.5 billion yen in 2012. It jumped up to 11 billion yen in 2013. By 2014, it's already increased by 14 times since 2012."

IN SUMMARY

My don't knows, and still trying to find outs, as I write this: Where exactly in Japan does koji come from today and does that even matter? Are the places where it comes from near Fukushima and does that really matter? On our grocery shelves, is koji clearly and specifically stated as an ingredient in miso? N.B. It appears to be the law in the USA that miso could be called a product of the USA on its label, so you would not even know where koji comes from, even if it is listed as an ingredient in miso. The previous sentence needs another whole article about labeling of foods. Labeling is a much wider problem than only the horrific one of not labeling GMO's. Is miso tested for radiation, and if so, by whom and how often? Are the results made public?

The wonderful and valuable Eat and Beat Cancer blog by Harriet Sugar Miller also talks about the great benefits of miso soup. And, unlike all the many other lists I have read, Miller give us this crucial caveat: "And of course, you'll want to purchase clean sources of both seaweed and miso. You can find some on the net or at your local health food store. (If the products are from Japan, make sure they were shipped prior to the disaster.)" The last sentence, weirdly in parenthesis, says it all.

MY SOLUTIONS TO DATE

I still do not eat miso soup. Although some insist otherwise, for me, there is no safe exposure to radiation, no matter how small the amount. I do not knowingly want to eat any food from Japan. These days, instead of my beloved miso soup, some of the foods I eat, hopefully to take a similar healthy place, include: 1) organic, raw shelled hemp seeds by Manitoba Harvest, sourced from Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba, Canada; 2) organic chia seeds from two companies: organic and fair trade black chia seeds by Himalania, labeled "Product of Peru and Paraguay" (that kind of label can be very deceptive and requires another whole paper), and also organic chia seeds by 365 Everyday Value by Whole Foods, labeled "PRODUCT OF PERU" (same comment as above); 3) organic flax seeds by Barlean's, sourced from North Dakota, USA and Saskatchewan, Canada.

I have spoken with each company to find out the specific place each of these is sourced from, country of origin, and, if applicable, the state(s) in USA or province(s) in Canada. I check these often and sometimes change products, as companies are often changing their vendors and sources of origin. I am still urgently looking for organic hemp hearts that do not come from Alberta, Canada. The city of Calgary, one of the fracking centers of Canada is in Alberta and that is where hemp hearts seem to come from, no matter where I search.

To reiterate, we can never be too careful when it comes to feeding ourselves and our families. There are no safe foods any longer. Only safer foods.

NOTE: This article and its appendix are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Noderivs Unported License(US/v.30) http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/

APPENDIX: EMAIL EXCHANGES WITH THREE MISO COMPANIES

All email sequences are in reverse chronological order. I have deleted the names, direct phone numbers and email addresses of the people in the companies that I corresponded with.

1) EMAIL EXCHANGES WITH A JAPANESE COMPANY, Hikari Miso International

From: "Hikari Miso International, Inc." customer|AT|hikarimiso.com Email address>
To: "'Sheila Parks'" sheilaxxxx|AT|comcast.net Email address>
Subject: RE: Hikari Miso - Thank you for your inquiry!
Date: Tue, 18 Feb 2014 13:50:08 -0800
X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook 15.0

Hi Sheila,

I am XXXXB and I will reply on behalf of XXXXA.

We only test our domestic ingredients(made in Japan), and we do not test our final products.

We do not use domestic ingredients for our Shio Koji.

Only koji culture is made in Kyushu(Southern) Japan. The area is not affected radiation.

Best Regards,

XXXXB

****************************

HIKARI MISO INTERNATIONAL, INC.

e-mail: customer|AT|hikarimiso.com Email address

URL: www.hikarimiso.com

TEL (310) 988-xxxb

****************************

From: Sheila Parks []
Sent: Monday, February 17, 2014 12:05 PM
To: XXXXA
Cc: sheilaxxxx|AT|comcast.netEmail address
Subject: Re: Hikari Miso - Thank you for your inquiry!

Hello again, dear XXXXA,

I am wondering if you test the koji for radiation and if so, where?

And also, if radiation is found in the koji, how many becquerels?

Thank you again,

Sheila

At 06:15 PM 2/7/2014, you wrote:

Hi Sheila,

The koji culture is made Nagano Prefecture.

Thank you!
XXXXA

On Thu, 06 Feb 2014 21:50:44-0500, Sheila Parks wrote:

Dear XXXXA,

Thank you so much and for your fast response

Can you tell me what prefecture(s) in Japan?

Thank you again and I am looking forward to hearing from you

Sheila

At 08:46 PM 2/6/2014, you wrote:

(Article changed on October 6, 2014 at 14:39)

(Article changed on October 6, 2014 at 14:47)

(Article changed on October 6, 2014 at 19:47)

(Article changed on October 8, 2014 at 23:46)

(Article changed on October 9, 2014 at 00:00)