Taipei-A food item imported from Japan’s Gunma Prefecture that was found to be contaminated with radioactive residues will be returned or destroyed, Executive Yuan spokesman Lo Ping-cheng (羅秉成) said on Thursday.
Speaking to reporters after a Cabinet meeting, Lo said although the radioactive levels detected in a batch of konjac flour did not exceed the limit allowed by Taiwan, importers have agreed with the advice of the government to destroy or send them back to their suppliers.
His remarks came one day after the country’s Food and Drug Administration (FDA) made public a list of six food items imported from Japan this year that contained traces of radioactivity.
According to the FDA on Wednesday, the batches of konjac flour sampled on Aug. 25 were found to contain 4.8 Becquerel (Bq) per kilogram of cesium-137 (Cs-137) and 4.8 Bq/kg of Cs-134 + Cs-137.
Blueberry juice concentrate and four other mushroom items from other prefectures, which were sampled between March 10 and May 25, have also been tested and found to contain slight traces of radioactivity, the administration said, noting that they have either been returned to the supplier or destroyed.
Under Paragraph 2, Article 15 of the Act Governing Food Safety and Sanitation, the limits on Iodine-131 and Cs-134 + Cs-137 should not exceed either 50 Bq/kg, 55 Bq/kg, or 100 Bq/kg in food items such as dairy products, baby foods, drinks, and others, including dried or concentrated food that need to be rehydrated.
In February, Taiwan lifted a ban on Japanese food and agricultural products from areas affected by the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster, ending an import ban that had been in place for 11 years. The areas included Fukushima, where the disaster occurred, and neighboring Gunma, Chiba, Ibaraki, and Tochigi.
Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel