China slaps ban on food imported from Japan
Source: Agencies |
00:29 UTC+8 March 26, 2011
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
China yesterday banned imports of some Japanese food products amid fears of radiation contamination, hours after announcing that two Japanese travelers who had flown into an eastern city had radiation levels well above safety limits.
China joins a growing list of countries and regions that have stopped imports of some foodstuffs from Japan.
The food ban covers dairy, aquatic and vegetable products as well as fruit from the Japanese prefectures of Fukushima, Tochigi, Gunma, Ibaraki and Chiba, China's quality watchdog, the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, said.
"Japan's Fukushima nuclear plant leak accident has already resulted in serious pollution to local food and agricultural products," the agency said, adding that the ban took effect from Thursday.
"The Japanese government has already detected excessive radioactive matter from many regions' related food and agricultural products, and adopted rules prohibiting the distribution of food products," it said.
Japan has stopped shipments of vegetables and milk from near the stricken nuclear plant, while Singapore, Australia, the United States, and China's Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau are all restricting food imports from Japan.
Though China has not found any abnormal radiation in goods from Japan, it will step up checks, the watchdog said.
The two travelers who flew into the city of Wuxi in Jiangsu Province from Tokyo on Wednesday had radiation levels that "seriously exceeded the limit," the watchdog said.
The discovery marked the first time that serious contamination from the nuclear crisis had reached Chinese mainland.
Still, the agency said the two travelers were given medical treatment and presented no risk to others.
It did not define radiation limits, and Japanese authorities have said no one in Japan, aside from workers at the nuclear plant crippled after the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, has been found to have seriously elevated radiation levels.
The travelers, flying on Shenzhen Airlines, came from Nagano and Saitama prefectures in Japan, the agency said.
Japan's Foreign Ministry deputy spokesman Takeshi Matsunaga said that, as of March 18, the International Civil Aviation Association said that screening of passengers from Japan was not considered necessary.
A government official in Wuxi said: "It was on their clothes, it has not affected their bodies."
On Tuesday, China detected "abnormal" radiation levels on a Japanese merchant ship entering the port at Xiamen in Fujian Province.
The agency said inspection teams discovered radiation on the "MOL Presence." The agency did not say if it was the ship or the goods onboard that were affected. According to the Xinhua news agency, the ship was still docked at the port.
China joins a growing list of countries and regions that have stopped imports of some foodstuffs from Japan.
The food ban covers dairy, aquatic and vegetable products as well as fruit from the Japanese prefectures of Fukushima, Tochigi, Gunma, Ibaraki and Chiba, China's quality watchdog, the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, said.
"Japan's Fukushima nuclear plant leak accident has already resulted in serious pollution to local food and agricultural products," the agency said, adding that the ban took effect from Thursday.
"The Japanese government has already detected excessive radioactive matter from many regions' related food and agricultural products, and adopted rules prohibiting the distribution of food products," it said.
Japan has stopped shipments of vegetables and milk from near the stricken nuclear plant, while Singapore, Australia, the United States, and China's Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau are all restricting food imports from Japan.
Though China has not found any abnormal radiation in goods from Japan, it will step up checks, the watchdog said.
The two travelers who flew into the city of Wuxi in Jiangsu Province from Tokyo on Wednesday had radiation levels that "seriously exceeded the limit," the watchdog said.
The discovery marked the first time that serious contamination from the nuclear crisis had reached Chinese mainland.
Still, the agency said the two travelers were given medical treatment and presented no risk to others.
It did not define radiation limits, and Japanese authorities have said no one in Japan, aside from workers at the nuclear plant crippled after the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, has been found to have seriously elevated radiation levels.
The travelers, flying on Shenzhen Airlines, came from Nagano and Saitama prefectures in Japan, the agency said.
Japan's Foreign Ministry deputy spokesman Takeshi Matsunaga said that, as of March 18, the International Civil Aviation Association said that screening of passengers from Japan was not considered necessary.
A government official in Wuxi said: "It was on their clothes, it has not affected their bodies."
On Tuesday, China detected "abnormal" radiation levels on a Japanese merchant ship entering the port at Xiamen in Fujian Province.
The agency said inspection teams discovered radiation on the "MOL Presence." The agency did not say if it was the ship or the goods onboard that were affected. According to the Xinhua news agency, the ship was still docked at the port.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
