By JULIA MAEDA/ Staff Writer
March 23, 2022 at 07:10 JST
A record low 6.5 percent of consumers are reluctant to buy food products from Fukushima Prefecture because of radiation fears, down 1.6 points from last year, a government survey showed.
The results were released by the Consumer Affairs Agency on March 8, nearly 11 years after the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami caused the meltdowns at Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.
The annual survey has been conducted since 2013 to determine the extent of consumer concerns about radioactive substances from the accident.
Overall, 4.9 percent of consumers, down 1.2 points from 2021, were reluctant to buy food products from Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima, the three prefectures hardest hit by the 2011 natural disasters, the survey showed.
The peak of reluctance came in the 2014 survey, when 19.6 percent of respondents said they were shying away from Fukushima-produced food items. The highest reluctance ratio for all three prefecture was 14.9 percent in 2013.
But the figures have been declining since 2016.
This year’s survey for the first time asked respondents what measures should be taken to prevent reputational damage to the Tohoku region food products and to put consumers’ minds at ease.
“Providing information on food safety (including inspection results)” was cited by the largest group, or 46.1 percent of the respondents.
“Increasing opportunities to come into contact with information on food safety” was next, chosen by 35.8 percent, while 31.0 percent selected “Providing information on production areas and the charms of food products.”
“Many consumers said they wanted not only to gain information on safety but also to learn production areas and the charms of their products,” a Consumer Affairs Agency official said. “We want to make use (of their feedback) for our future efforts.”
The online survey was conducted on Feb. 1-7 and received valid responses from 5,176 people in their 20s through 60s.
The respondents lived in disaster-hit Iwate, Miyagi, Fukushima and Ibaraki prefectures, Tokyo metropolitan areas, including Saitama, Chiba and Kanagawa prefectures, and three other prefectures of Aichi, Osaka and Hyogo.
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