Tokyo (CNN) -- Radiation higher than the regulatory limit has been found in beef from Fukushima Prefecture, near Japan's crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, the nation's Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare said Thursday.
The ministry said 210 bequerels of Cesium 134 and 300 bequerels of Cesium 137 per kilogram were found in the beef. The total of 510 bequerels per kilogram is higher than the limit of 500 becquerels per kilogram in guidelines set by Japan's Nuclear Safety Commission.
The meat will not be sold and will be retested, the ministry said.
The finding is the first such in beef, although authorities have banned the sale and transport of some vegetables grown in the area after tests detected radiation.
Cesium 134 has a half life of 2.1 years, according to the Argonne National Laboratory in Argonne, Illinois. Cesium 137, experts have said, has a half life of 30 years -- meaning it will lose half of its radiation in three decades.
Cesium 137 levels have also spiked in ocean waters off the nuclear plant, the nation's nuclear safety agency. A Wednesday afternoon sample showed levels of 527 times the standard.
Because of its long half life, experts have said its presence is worrisome.
"That's the one I am worried about," said Michael Friedlander, a U.S.-based nuclear engineer, explaining cesium might linger much longer in the ecosystem. "Plankton absorbs the cesium, the fish eat the plankton, the bigger fish eat smaller fish -- so every step you go up the food chain, the concentration of cesium gets higher."
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