SpaceWar.com - Your World At War
Tokyo says Taiwan eases import restrictions on Japanese food
Tokyo, Sept 25 (AFP) Sep 25, 2024
Taiwan will ease restrictions on imports of Japanese food products including seafood from areas around the stricken Fukushima nuclear plant, Tokyo's ministry of agriculture, forestry and fisheries said on Wednesday.

The move comes after Beijing announced last week it would "gradually resume" importing seafood from Japan after imposing a blanket ban last year over the release of water from the power station, which was hit by a tsunami in 2011.

"Today, the Taiwanese authorities announced the relaxation of import control measures for Japanese food products introduced following the accident at... Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant," a ministry statement said.

That involves lifting import bans on products such as wild bird meat and mushrooms from five regions including Fukushima, on the condition that radioactive material inspection reports and certificates of origin be submitted, it said.

Marine products from the northeastern Iwate and Miyagi prefectures near Fukushima can be exported "without a radioactive material inspection report".

Taiwan's Food and Drug Administration posted a brief notice on its website Wednesday saying that the import rules "are revised and take effect immediately".

Imports "should be accompanied by radiation testing certificates" from Fukushima and four other prefectures, the notice said, adding that the regulations will be applied "based on the date of exports".

Japan's agriculture, forestry and fisheries minister, Tetsushi Sakamoto, said he "welcomes the move as a positive step toward promoting the recovery of disaster-hit areas".

The ministry statement said it would continue to push for all remaining restrictions to be lifted.

"The Japanese government has used multiple opportunities to assure Taiwan authorities of the safety of our products based on scientific evidence, but we will continue our persistent efforts so that import restrictions such as certificate submission be scrapped swiftly," it said.

Three reactors at the Fukushima-Daiichi facility went into meltdown in 2011 following a massive earthquake and tsunami that killed around 18,000 people.

Japan began discharging treated wastewater from the plant into the Pacific Ocean in August 2023 in an operation it insists is safe, a view backed by the UN atomic agency.

However, the release sparked a fierce backlash from China, which banned Japanese seafood imports.

Beijing and Tokyo said on Friday they had come to a consensus over the water release that would allow China to phase the imports back in.

Following China, Russia banned Japanese seafood imports in October as a "precautionary measure".

Russian news agency TASS cited a top sanitary official last week as saying Moscow would maintain the embargo.


ADVERTISEMENT




Space News from SpaceDaily.com
AI systems proposed to boost launch cadence reliability and traffic management
China debuts Long March 12A reusable rocket in Jiuquan test flight
Curiosity Blog, Sols 4750-4762: See You on the Other Side of the Sun

24/7 Energy News Coverage
Redesigned carbon framework boosts battery safety and power
Molecular catalyst switches between hydrogen and oxygen production
Project Pele microreactor reaches key milestone with first TRISO fuel delivery

Military Space News, Nuclear Weapons, Missile Defense
SDA expands Tracking Layer satellite awards and related missile defense contracts
Space Systems Command activates System Delta 80 for assured space access
Rheinmetall ICEYE Space Solutions to provide SAR reconnaissance data to German military

24/7 News Coverage
OPERA satellite data sharpens US crop and water management
Alen Space begins SATMAR satellite validation over Bay of Algeciras
Deep Arctic gas hydrate mounds host ultra deep cold seep ecosystem



All rights reserved. Copyright Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse.