The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) yesterday announced that it plans to remove the special restrictions on food imports from five Japanese prefectures, including Fukushima, and that the restrictions might be lifted by the end of the year after a 60-day public comment period ends.
Taiwan has banned all imports of Japanese food and agricultural products from five prefectures — Fukushima, Gunma, Chiba, Ibaraki and Tochigi — near the crippled Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant since 2011.
While the ban was partially lifted in 2022 and last year, some high-risk food products remained banned, and two certificates — a certificate of origin and a radiation inspection certificate — are required for food products imported from the areas. They are also subject to batch-by-batch inspections upon arrival.
Photo: Reuters
If the policy is implemented after the 60-day public comment period, food imports from the areas would be inspected according to normal border inspection and food safety risk management standards.
FDA Director-General Chiang Chih-kang (姜至剛) said 21,717 batches of food imports from the five Japanese prefectures were tested for radiation between Feb. 21, 2022, and Sept. 25 last year, and a total of more than 263,000 batches were tested in the past 14 years, but none failed the test, either according to Taiwanese or Japanese standards, so the risk is deemed “negligible.”
There were 53 nations or areas that imposed restrictions on food imports from Japan after the nuclear disaster, but 49 of them have totally removed the restrictions, he said, adding that only China (including Hong Kong and Macau), South Korea, Russia and Taiwan still have total or partial restrictions.
Asked about the matter at a separate setting, Minister of Health and Welfare Shih Chung-liang (石崇良) said that since the nuclear disaster in 2011, more than 260,000 batches of food imports from the area have been tested and most nations have now recognized the risk is negligible, so it is time to return to normal regulations based on scientific evidence.
Japan is the most popular destination among Taiwanese, with more than 6 million visits last year, and most Taiwanese are familiar with Japanese food, with many enjoying local food and having a great time in Japan, Chiang said.
If the current restriction is removed after the 60-day comment period, food importers would no longer be required to submit the two certificates, nor be subject to batch-by-batch inspection, he said.
Instead they would be subject to random border inspections and domestic market inspections like other food imports, he added.
TPP RALLY: The clashes occurred near the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall on Saturday at a rally to mark the anniversary of a raid on former TPP chairman Ko Wen-je People who clashed with police at a Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) rally in Taipei on Saturday would be referred to prosecutors for investigation, said the Ministry of the Interior, which oversees the National Police Agency. Taipei police had collected evidence of obstruction of public officials and coercion by “disorderly” demonstrators, as well as contraventions of the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法), the ministry said in a statement on Sunday. It added that amid the “severe pushing and jostling” by some demonstrators, eight police officers were injured, including one who was sent to hospital after losing consciousness, allegedly due to heat stroke. The Taipei
NO LIVERPOOL TRIP: Taiwan’s Lin Yu-ting, who won a gold medal in the boxing at the Paris Olympics, was embroiled in controversy about her gender at that event Taiwanese boxer Lin Yu-ting (林郁婷) will not attend this year’s World Boxing Championships in Liverpool, England, due to a lack of response regarding her sex tests from the organizer, World Boxing. The national boxing association on Monday said that it had submitted all required tests to World Boxing, but had not received a response as of Monday, the departure day for the championships. It said the decision for Lin to skip the championships was made to protect its athletes, ensuring they would not travel to the UK without a guarantee of participation. Lin, who won a gold medal in the women’s 57kg boxing
The US has revoked Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) authorization to freely ship essential gear to its main Chinese chipmaking base, potentially curtailing its production capabilities at that older-generation facility. American officials recently informed TSMC of their decision to end the Taiwanese chipmaker’s so-called validated end user (VEU) status for its Nanjing site. The action mirrors steps the US took to revoke VEU designations for China facilities owned by Samsung Electronics Co and SK Hynix Inc. The waivers are set to expire in about four months. “TSMC has received notification from the US Government that our VEU authorization for TSMC Nanjing
‘NOT ALONE’: A Taiwan Strait war would disrupt global trade routes, and could spark a worldwide crisis, so a powerful US presence is needed as a deterrence, a US senator said US Senator Deb Fischer on Thursday urged her colleagues in the US Congress to deepen Washington’s cooperation with Taiwan and other Indo-Pacific partners to contain the global security threat from China. Fischer and other lawmakers recently returned from an official trip to the Indo-Pacific region, where they toured US military bases in Hawaii and Guam, and visited leaders, including President William Lai (賴清德). The trip underscored the reality that the world is undergoing turmoil, and maintaining a free and open Indo-Pacific region is crucial to the security interests of the US and its partners, she said. Her visit to Taiwan demonstrated ways the
RSS