Japan suspends shipment of Miyagi beef

Japanese government has decided to ban all shipments of beef cattle from northeast Miyagi Prefecture as early as Thursday over fears of radioactive contamination, local media reported Thursday. Amounts of radioactive cesium exceeding permissible level had been detected in beef from six head of cattle in the prefecture. Miyagi had shipped a total of 1,031 head of beef cattle reported to be fed rice straw tainted with radioactive cesium. The government task force on the nuclear disaster says the contaminated beef came from cattle from various parts of the prefecture, the public broadcaster NHK reported. Japan suspended all cattle shipments from Fukushima prefecture due to fears of radiation-tainted beef in the country's meat distribution chain last week.