Co-op sells banned spinach to consumers in eastern Japan

Article from Japan Today, excerpt :

" CHIBA : A Tokyo-based cooperative has delivered spinach grown in the town of Tako, Chiba Prefecture, to consumers in three eastern Japan prefectures despite a government ban on shipments due to concerns about radiation, the Chiba prefectural government said Thursday.

Some of the 74 lots of Tako-grown spinach—home delivered by Pal System Consumers Cooperative Union to 70 households in Gunma, Saitama and Chiba prefecture—had already been consumed, it said.

A dealer in the town of Shibayama which also has vegetable fields in Tako shipped the spinach in question as part of 380 lots on April 10 and has said it did not know of the shipment ban, prompting the local government to issue a verbal warning, it said.

A cooperative association formed by nine consumer cooperatives in Tokyo and nine surrounding prefectures, Pal System said it thought there were no problems with the spinach shipped, as the dealer was based in Shibayama, but was alerted to the possibility of a problem through documents submitted by the dealer."