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The photo of the luminescent sushi was reshared after the Fukushima incident.
After the Japanese government released treated nuclear wastewater into the sea in Fukushima Prefecture, there has been concern from various parties both domestically and internationally. Many claims have also been made about the release of treated wastewater. Read the related Fact-Check: Old Videos Were Falsely Claimed To Be From The Nuclear Wastewater Release In Fukushima […]
After the Japanese government released treated nuclear wastewater into the sea in Fukushima Prefecture, there has been concern from various parties both domestically and internationally. Many claims have also been made about the release of treated wastewater.
Read the related Fact-Check: Old Videos Were Falsely Claimed To Be From The Nuclear Wastewater Release In Fukushima
Recently, we have found the image circulating on social media, accompanied by statements claiming that they are from the latest release of wastewater.
Social Media Posts
Last week, a Twitter (X) user posted a picture of a sushi box with glowing shrimp with the caption "Sushi Fukushima".
Furthermore, we discovered the same image shared on Facebook. As of now, it has been shared over 800 times and received 11K reactions.
However, upon examination, we found the image mentioned above is not related to the release of wastewater in Fukushima in late August in any way.
Fact-Check
We traced the source of the viral image mentioned using the Reverse Image Search feature and found that a Twitter user had initially posted the image in 2020.
The picture of the glowing sushi mentioned also went viral that year, with reports from various news agencies, including international ones, such as Daily Mail, Odditycentral, and Ladbible.
Associate Professor Dr. Jessada Denduangborioant, a biology lecturer at the Faculty of Science, Chulalongkorn University, has posted an explanation about the cause of luminescent shrimp in the picture. He said that it may be caused by bacteria in the sea, or there may be chemical substances added that cause the luminescent reaction. However, consuming them is not recommended as they may pose a health risk.
Furthermore, according to the Nation, Opart Karnkawinpong, the department director-general, informed that the glow in the sushi was caused by bacteria.
He explained that the bioluminescent state can be found in sea food or aquatic animals, due to those luminous bacteria, such as photobacterium phosphoreum, photobacterium leiognathid, or vibrio harveyi.
He said that the contamination found in the samples could be from original ingredients. Opart added that the ingredients may pass some procedure to kill microbes, but that was not enough to deal with the bioluminescent bacteria.
However, he added that not all contaminated food can glow in the dark, as the density of bacteria must be high enough to show the luminous effect.
According to the department’s experiment in 2010, the glowing effect can happen when the bacteria was around 1 million to 10 million cells per kilogram of food.
The director-general said that the bacteria could grow in cool places, so the glowing effect can be seen if the seafood is kept in refrigerators for a long time. However, eating contaminated food would be dangerous for health. (Archive)
Summary
The image of glowing sushi, claimed to be from Fukushima after the release of contaminated water from the nuclear power plant, is actually a viral image from 2020. It is believed that the cause of the glowing water in the image is bioluminescent bacteria found in marine animals, and it is not related to the contaminated water release in Fukushima in late August of this year.
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Title:The photo of the luminescent sushi was reshared after the Fukushima incident
Written By: Cielito WangResult: Misleading
