Import of food items from Japan suspended

New Delhi, Apr 5 (PTI) The Government of India on Tuesday
suspended import of food items from Japan, hit by a nuclear
disaster, for three months or till such time as the radiation
hazard in that country has subsided to acceptable limits.
The decision to suspend the imports was taken at a
meeting held under the chairmanship of P I Suvrathan,
Chairperson Food Safety and Standards Authority of India
(FSSAI).
"Import of food articles coming from Japan stand
suspended with immediate effect for a period of three months
or till such time as credible information is available that
the radiation hazard has subsided to acceptable limits," a
statement issued by the Health Ministry said.
However, the Ministry said "weekly reviews will be
carried out by Food Safety and Standards Authority of India
(FSSAI).
The meeting was called by FSSAI to review the situation
arising out of radioactive incidents in nuclear power plants
in Japan and possible contamination of Japanese food being
imported into India.
After detailed discussions, it was concluded that since
the radiation is spreading or expanding horizontally in other
parts of Japan, it may result in further radioactive
contamination in the supply chain of food exports from Japan.
Representatives and experts from Board of Radiation and
Isotope Technology (BRIT), Bhabha Atomic Research Centre
(BARC), Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB), Indian
Institute of Toxicology Research (IITR), Central Board of
Excise and Customs (CBEC) and Shriram Institute for Industrial
Research participated in the meeting.
Earlier this month, the government had ordered that
food originating from Japan be tested for radiation. JAPAN IMPORT 2 LAST
The Department of Revenue, Government of India, has also
been requested to advise all the customs points in the
country, where imported food is cleared, to test samples on
similar lines.
Radioactive iodine in seawater near Japan's crippled
Fukushima nuclear plant tested five million times the legal
limit, the facility's operator said on Tuesday, as authorities
for the first time imposed radiation safety standards for fish
in the tsunami-hit region.
The plant's operator, Tokyo Electric Power Company
(TEPCO), which had last week said toxic water was leaking from
a cracked concrete pit near the No.2 reactor, said the
seawater samples taken on Saturday last contained 300,000
becquerels of iodine 131 per cubic cm or 7.5 million times the
legal limit, which dropped on Monday to 5 million times than
usual.
The samples taken on Monday also contained cesium 137,
which was 1.1 million times the legal limit, more than three
weeks after the monster magnitude-9 quake and tsunami hit
Japan's northeast leaving nearly 30,000 people dead or
unaccounted for.