With much stricter regulations on radioactive cesium in food about to take effect, authorities in the Tohoku and Kanto regions said Friday they are ready to increase the number of food samplings to win the trust of consumers.

Starting Sunday, the ceiling on radioactive cesium in food will be lowered from the current 500 becquerels per kilogram to 100. To eliminate the chance of food with excessive radioactive cesium reaching store shelves, prefectures are beefing up their testing systems by purchasing screening equipment and in some cases increasing inspectors to check more food samples.

Tochigi Prefecture will double or even triple the number of samples tested starting next month, according to official Hiroyuki Sugimoto.