The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a joint news release reporting results from recent monitoring for potential radiation exposure. The monitoring included milk from Spokane, Washington. Although extremely low levels were found, the agencies continued to emphasize that, based on current information, there is no risk to the U.S. Food Supply.
Consumer safety is the highest priority for dairy farmers and dairy food companies. The EPA and the FDA, which regularly test for radiation throughout the country, said that the levels detected in Spokane were thousand times below those that would trigger action or that would cause any concern for public health.
To put this into perspective, a person would need to be exposed to this level all day, every day for more than 100 years, to equal the exposure from one chest X-ray.
In Oregon, Christine Stone, spokeswoman for the Oregon Public Health Division, said the EPA continues to test milk from Oregon. The Oregon and U.S. dairy industries will continue to work closely with federal and state government agencies to ensure that we maintain a safe milk supply. Oregon has a plan of response for radiological emergencies if one were to arise. Plans include the Nuclear Radiological Emergency Program and the National Response Framework.
Umpqua Dairy is committed to providing our customers to safe and wholesome milk products. We will continue to monitor the situation and will provide updates as soon as they available. For the latest updates, join our conversation on Facebook.
Link to EPA's Radiation Information Resource:
http://www.epa.gov/radiation
For updated information from the Oregon Public Heath Division log onto:
http://public.health.oregon.gov/Preparedness/CurrentHazards/Pages/index.aspx
Additional Resources:
EPA Website:
http://www.epa.gov/
FDA Website:
http://www.fda.gov/default.htm
Source: Umpqua Dairy
