臺灣日式餐館提供輻射偵測服務

One of Taiwan's top Japanese restaurants is offering diners the use of a radiation gauge before they eat in case of any nerves in the wake of Japan's nuclear disaster。

Diners at the upscale Peony in Taipei's Xinyi business and financial district can pick up the machine at the counter when they come in, check themselves for radiation or use it to check their food, general manager Catherine Yang told reporters。

"I can give my customers a promise: if you eat at Peony I guarantee that everything you get will be the safest and the best," Yang said。

"Customers have found it really interesting, not many of them have seen radiation gauges, and many feel very reassured," she added。

The prospect of radiation releases after Japan's earthquake-triggered nuclear disaster has worried many in Taiwan, which is relatively close, has its own nuclear power plants and is, like Japan, prone to earthquakes。

Japanese food is also hugely popular on the island, where the nuclear energy body has stepped up monitoring of imported goods from Japan and is checking all arriving airline passengers from Japan for radiation levels。

Aside from slight radiation detected in a small shipment of broad beans over the weekend, which was, in any case, within legal limits, it has yet to find any contamination。

Yang noted there was a lack of knowledge about radiation among the public, and offering the gauge was as much about reassurance as checking food that has already been inspected by authorities, and does not come from the affected areas of Japan。

"Our head chef checked himself and wondered why his reading was higher than the fish and meat," she said. "But the fish and meat don't use computers or mobile phones all day and don't watch TV, so if they come from a safe place they are very safe to eat."

"Many people don't understand that there are small amounts of harmless radiation everywhere in everyday life."臺灣的一家頂級日本料理店將爲食客在進餐前提供輻射偵測服務，以安撫日本核災難可能引發的緊張情緒。

臺北信義商業區牡丹高級餐廳的總經理凱瑟琳•楊告訴記者說，食客進入餐廳後，可以自己從櫃檯拿儀器偵測自己身上的輻射水平，或檢查食物的輻射含量。

楊說：“我可以向我的顧客承諾：如果你們在牡丹餐廳吃飯，我保證你們所得到的一切都是最安全、最好的。”

她還說：“顧客們覺得自己進行輻射檢查挺有意思的，很多人都沒見過輻射檢測儀，很多人都覺得很安心。”

因爲臺灣和日本相距較近，臺灣也有自己的核電站，而且和日本一樣，臺灣也容易發生地震，所以在日本地震引發核災難之後，臺灣許多人都開始擔心核輻射。

日本料理在臺灣非常受歡迎。在臺灣，原子能機構已經加強對從日本進口的商品的檢測，並對所有來自日本的飛機乘客進行輻射水平的檢查。

除了在週末從日本海運過來的一小部分蠶豆上檢測出輕微輻射量(在安全範圍內)外，還沒有發現任何輻射污染。

楊指出民衆對核輻射了解的不多，提供檢測儀主要是爲了讓民衆放心，其實當局已經對食物進行過檢測，也不會進口來自日本受災區的食物。

她說：“我們的廚師長也會給自己做檢測，他很奇怪爲什麼自己的輻射值比魚和肉的輻射值還要高。魚和肉不會一天到晚用電腦或手機，也不看電視，所以如果它們來自一個安全的地方，那麼食用它們也是十分安全的。”

“許多人不理解，其實日常生活中到處都有少量無害的輻射。”