Indonesia finds radiation at clove farm in investigation launched into cesium-137-contaminated shrimp and spices in US

Jakarta — Indonesian authorities found traces of radioactivity at a clove farm on the island of Sumatra, a government spokesman said Tuesday, as Jakarta expanded an investigation launched after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration detected cesium-137 contamination in Indonesian spices.

The FDA recently said it had detected the presence of cesium-137 in a clove sample from PT Natural Java Spice during testing after the radioactive isotope was also detected in August in a frozen shrimp sample from Indonesia.

The Indonesian government then launched an investigation and sent inspection teams to a processing facility and a farm on the island of Java and another farm in Sumatra, task force spokesman Bara Hasibuan told News on Tuesday.

He said the team only found traces of radioactivity at the clove farm in Lampung, Sumatra, without revealing further details, adding that the government had banned the farm from selling its cloves as a preventive measure.

“Until there is a conclusive finding, we request that the nails from the farm not be sold,” Bara said, adding that Indonesia’s Nuclear Energy Regulatory Agency, or Bapeten, was analyzing samples from the farm. “We must determine the source, how the teeth are contaminated.”

The discovery comes after authorities detected traces of cesium-137 in at least 22 facilities in the Cikande industrial estate, about 35 kilometers west of Jakarta.

The government has tightened restrictions in the area and carried out vehicle inspections to detect possible contamination.

It also suspended imports of iron and steel scrap, allegedly a source of contamination, until a radioactive materials tracking system is “fully strengthened,” Environment Minister Hanif Faisol Nurofiq said in an Instagram post.

The FDA has banned the two Indonesian companies’ products until they can show they have resolved the problems that allowed the contamination to occur, the agency said.

The agency also said shrimp and spices from certain regions of Indonesia would require import certification starting in late October, due to the risk of possible contamination with cesium-137.

“This represents the first use of this Congressional authority to address current food safety issues while maintaining the flow of safe products into commerce,” the FDA said in its statement a week ago.

The FDA issued a recall in August after the radioactive isotope was detected in shrimp exported by the company PT Bahari Makmur Sejati. The agency said long-term exposure to even low doses of cesium-137 is linked to an elevated risk of cancer.

The radioactive isotope, which is created through nuclear reactions, is used in a variety of industrial, medical and research applications.

In:

• radiation
• Food and drink
• Food and Drug Administration
• Product recall
• Indonesia