Gov’t has no plans to ease import restrictions from Japan

The government has no plans to ease or remove the ban on Japanese food imports from 10 prefectures, the IAM has said in a written note cited by public broadcaster TDM.

The ban, enforced for the past six months, was in response to the news Japanese authorities would begin offloading wastewater from the Fukushima Nuclear Powerplant.

The international community has confirmed the release of such water was safe and would not adversely impact living beings.

Nevertheless, China has banned the import of live and fresh food products from 10 Japanese prefectures and regions over concerns about food safety and public health, a measured also followed by Macau.

Six months, 65,000 radiation inspections, and over 1,100 laboratory analyses later, the Municipal Affairs Bureau (IAM) has said there are no plans to ease restrictions because the plan to release Fukushima wastewater will continue for at least 30 years.

Continued analyses on imported products from other Japanese areas has shown normal results, according to the IAM.

The banned import of food includes live and fresh food products, food products of animal origin, sea salt, and seaweed from Japan’s prefectures of Fukushima, Chiba, Tochigi, Ibaraki, Gunma, Miyagi, Niigata, Nagano, and Saitama, as well as Tokyo Metropolis.

The United Nations nuclear watchdog has vouched for the safety of the water release that began in August last year from the plant wrecked by a tsunami in 2011.

In October last year, trade ministers of the G7 countries called for the immediate repeal of bans on Japanese food.

In Macau, after a brief standstill in the first days after the ban started, importers have found suppliers outside the banned prefectures.

They supply the many local Japanese cuisine restaurants without major problems.

As IAM said at the time, the ban had no major impact locally.