Govt Extends Ban On Food Imports From Fukushima

The government on Tuesday extended a ban on the import of vegetables, fruit and milk from Fukushima prefecture in Japan.

But it lifted the ban on food imports from four other prefectures – Ibaraki, Tochiga, Chiba, and Gunma – imposed over nuclear contamination fears after the 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan.

Health authorities said that they consider it is now appropriate to lift the import restrictions on all but Fukushima. They are proposing that food certified to be safe by the Japanese authorities can be imported to Hong Kong.

The Food and Health Bureau said the Japanese authorities have carried out tests on more than two million food samples since the incident, and only 1,200 of them were found to contain excessive radiation. Among them, 90 percent were tests done before 2013.

It pointed out that many other places, including the US, Australia and EU countries, have lifted similar bans in recent years.

The Centre for Food Safety said it will still keep a close eye on food imported from the four prefectures.