China halts food imports from radiation-hit Japanese prefectures

Fri, 25 Mar 2011

Beijing - China on Friday joined other nations in suspending food and agricultural imports from five Japanese prefectures affected by radiation from an earthquake- and tsunami-damaged nuclear power plant.

The temporary ban applies to dairy products, fruit, vegetables, other agricultural products and aquatic products from the five areas, the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine said.

China joined the United States, Singapore, Australia, Taiwan and Hong Kong in suspending the imports from Japan's Fukushima, Ibaraki, Tochigiken, Gunma and Chiba prefectures.

The Chinese government ordered quarantine inspectors at ports to monitor radiation levels in all shipments from Japan from March 16.

In a separate notice on Friday, the quality watchdog said two Japanese air passengers were found with radiation levels "seriously exceeding limits" as they arrived in the south-eastern city of Wuxi Wednesday.

It also said a cargo ship from Japan showed "abnormal" radiation levels in the south-eastern port of Xiamen Tuesday.

The notice did not specify the levels of radiation found, but it said the two air passengers were not considered a risk to other people.

The nuclear plant in Fukushima, 250 kilometers north-east of Tokyo, has released radioactive materials and has been hit by explosions and fires since the March 11 quake and tsunami, which caused the cooling systems its six reactors to fail.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/373320,imports-radiation-hit-japanese-prefectures.html.