ID :
175320
Thu, 04/14/2011 - 06:04
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/175320
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Seoul to demand Tokyo's safety guarantee for food imports
SEOUL, April 14 (Yonhap) -- South Korea will call for the Japanese government to provide a safety certificate for food products manufactured from 13 regions located near the crippled nuclear complex, Seoul's food safety regulator said Thursday.
The Korea Food and Drug Administration said it will make the request in order to ensure that food products shipped from those regions including Tokyo and its surrounding areas do not contain radiation exceeding permitted levels.
The request is regarded as a de-facto suspension of all imports of foods produced in those areas amid growing radiation fears stemming from the neighboring island country.
The move is the latest in a series of efforts by the government to guarantee food safety here as fears over radiation contamination are mounting since the March 11 quake and tsunami crippled the nuclear power plant in Fukushima, about 250 kilometers northeast of Tokyo.
Earlier, South Korea imposed an import ban on food products from five prefectures -- Fukushima, Ibaraki, Tochigi and Gunma and Chiba.
Fears, however, intensified after Japan recently discharged low-level radioactive water into the Pacific Ocean, saying that it intended to secure room for more highly contaminated water at storage facilities in the nuclear power plant.
On Wednesday, the government decided to form a new task force of related agencies to monitor possible contamination of its seawater following Japan's discharge of radioactive water into the Pacific Ocean.
Meanwhile, the food safety agency said that it has set a new iodine safety standard on food imports intended for babies' consumption at less than 100 becquerels per kilogram. That is aimed at beefing up surveillance on radiation-contaminated products imported from Japan, it explained.
The Korea Food and Drug Administration said it will make the request in order to ensure that food products shipped from those regions including Tokyo and its surrounding areas do not contain radiation exceeding permitted levels.
The request is regarded as a de-facto suspension of all imports of foods produced in those areas amid growing radiation fears stemming from the neighboring island country.
The move is the latest in a series of efforts by the government to guarantee food safety here as fears over radiation contamination are mounting since the March 11 quake and tsunami crippled the nuclear power plant in Fukushima, about 250 kilometers northeast of Tokyo.
Earlier, South Korea imposed an import ban on food products from five prefectures -- Fukushima, Ibaraki, Tochigi and Gunma and Chiba.
Fears, however, intensified after Japan recently discharged low-level radioactive water into the Pacific Ocean, saying that it intended to secure room for more highly contaminated water at storage facilities in the nuclear power plant.
On Wednesday, the government decided to form a new task force of related agencies to monitor possible contamination of its seawater following Japan's discharge of radioactive water into the Pacific Ocean.
Meanwhile, the food safety agency said that it has set a new iodine safety standard on food imports intended for babies' consumption at less than 100 becquerels per kilogram. That is aimed at beefing up surveillance on radiation-contaminated products imported from Japan, it explained.
