Or more like in vegetables, where they test one crop from one plot in one farm in one municipality, and if that passes the test, all farms in that municipality are good to ship.
The harvest season in Chiba is about to start, in early August.
Expect the triumphant declaration of safety by the governors, followed by ....
NHK World English (8/1/2011) reports:
The Chiba and Tochigi prefectural governments say they will test the rice harvested in their prefectures for radiation.
The decision comes after radioactive cesium was detected in rice straw, vegetables and compost following the Fukushima nuclear accident.
Farmers in Chiba and Tochigi planted rice seedlings in their fields after the accident and are voicing concerns over possible contamination due to fallout from the Fukushima plant.
Officials in Chiba, where harvesting is expected to begin as early as August, say they will sample unmilled rice from one to several farms in each rice-growing municipality to measure radiation levels.
They say they will not allow any farms in a municipality to ship their rice unless the tests show that the radiation readings of samples from the area are within the safety limit set by the central government.
Tochigi authorities plan to have each area submit a sample for testing. They say they will also purchase 2 special devices to detect radioactive cesium, although they are still discussing the details of the testing method with the government.
In Tochigi, rice harvesting will start in early September.
The 2 prefectures are the first in Japan to announce that they will test rice for radioactive cesium.
I am also a little worried about the rice currently in the market. It was harvested last fall, and is kept unmilled in warehouses until it's ready to be sold in the retail market. Remember the radioactive shiitake mushrooms that were grown indoors? The source of radioactive cesium in those mushrooms hasn't been identified, as far as I know. I sure hope it is not "air".