Thu, Jul 25, 2024 page1

• FDA to allow all food imports from Fukushima disaster areas

  SAFETY FIRST: All food imports from five prefectures near the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant would undergo batch-by-batch inspections, the FDA said

  • By Lin Chih-yi and Jake Chung / Staff reporter, with staff writer and CNA
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  Taiwan plans to allow all imports of Japanese food and agricultural products from areas near the crippled Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said on Tuesday evening.

  The FDA said in a statement that it is planning to amend regulations to allow mushrooms, the meat of wild birds and other wild animals, and “koshiabura” (foraged vegetables) from Fukushima, Gunma, Chiba, Ibaraki and Tochigi prefectures to be imported.

  Apart from those products, Taiwan lifted a ban on food imports from the five prefectures in 2022.

  

  Two packs of strawberries from Japan’s Tochigi Prefecture seized due to excessive levels of pesticide residue are pictured in Taipei on April 19, 2022.

  Photo courtesy of the Food and Drug Administration

  All food imports from the five prefectures would undergo batch-by-batch inspections under the amended regulations, and radiation readings and certificates of origin would also be required, FDA Deputy Director-General Lin Chin-fu (林金富) said.

  More than 235,000 batches of Japanese food have been inspected for radiation at the border since the disaster in 2011, Lin said, adding that only trace amounts, which met Taiwan’s and Japan’s standards, were detected.

  As food safety has been confirmed and given that most countries have already lifted restrictions on food products from the five prefectures, Taiwan would remove its import control measures for Japanese products, he said.

  Forty-nine of 53 countries and regions that import Japanese food products have completely lifted control measures imposed after the disaster, Lin said.

  A 60-day review period is in place and public feedback on the amendments is welcome, the FDA said.

  In addition, seafood, mushrooms, tea, dairy products and baby food from areas outside the five prefectures, such as tea from Shizuoka Prefecture, would no longer require radiation certification, it said.

  Only proof of origin would be required for those products, the FDA added.

  Mai Fu-der (麥富德), a professor at Taipei Medical University’s Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Cell Biology, yesterday said that wild mushrooms and fowl are more susceptible to environmental exposure, and were more exposed to radiation than other agricultural products.

  However, the FDA said such food was rarely imported before, so lifting the restrictions was more of a gesture of goodwill, he said.

  Provided there is enough staff to examine the products batch by batch and imports remain low, there is comparatively little risk in lifting the restrictions, Mai said.

  As it has been more than a decade since the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant disaster, and the half-life of caesium-137 is 30.17 years, any risk has significantly decreased, he said.

  However, Mai said that his statements were predicated on the FDA’s ability to implement its stringent standards and having sufficient personnel to screen Japanese imports.
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