On August 24, Japan officially launched the Fukushima nuclear contaminated water to the sea, the General Administration of China Customs issued the announcement No. 103 of 2023, deciding to completely suspend the import of aquatic products (including edible aquatic animals) whose place of origin is Japan from August 24, 2023 (inclusive). At the same time, Hong Kong and Macao region also quickly adjusted the supervision measures on imported foods from Japan to ensure food safety. Antion sorted out the current regulatory dynamics of the two places for the reference of import and export enterprises.

01 Hong Kong, China

An inter-departmental task force (composed of the Environment and Ecology Bureau, the Centre for Food Safety (CFS) of the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department (FEHD), the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department, the Hong Kong Observatory, the Department of Health and the Government Laboratory) in Hong Kong, China is responsible for following up the release of nuclear contaminated water. The CFS mainly controls the import of Japanese foods through the following measures:

(1) Maintain the existing import control of the capitals (counties) and newly add import prohibition areas

(2) Strengthen the testing for imported foods from Japan

For other food, the CFS will conduct comprehensive radiation level testing. The principle of constant testing based on risk assessment will be gradually strengthened, especially for aquatic products and the monitoring of radionuclide indicators. Test results will be published on the CFS website every working day.

In terms of testing indicators, the CFS referred to the General Standard for Bottled/Packaged Drinking Waters (Other than Natural Mineral Waters) (CODEX STAN227-2001) for the category of bottled/packaged drinking waters and the General Standard for Contaminants and Toxins in Food and Feed (CODEX STAN 193-1995) for other food categories.

02 Macao, China

The Chief Executive of Macao, China issued the Directive No. 134/2023 on 23 August 2023. From August 24, the import of fresh foods, foods of animal origin, sea salt and seaweed from Fukushima Prefecture, Chiba Prefecture, Tochigi Prefecture, Ibaraki Prefecture, Gunma Prefecture, Miyagi Prefecture, Niigata Prefecture, Nagano Prefecture, Saitama Prefecture and Tokyo Metropolis into the Macao Special Administrative Region has been explicitly banned, and a notification mechanism has been established with the CFS of Hong Kong.

In terms of testing indicators, all foods in Macao, China should comply with the provisions of Administrative Regulation No. 16/2014 Maximum Limits of Radionuclides in Foods, in which the maximum limit of iodine-131 in infant food and other foods is 100 Bq/kg, and the maximum limit of cesium-134 and cesium-137 is 1000 Bq/kg.

Source: Antion

Note: This article is compiled by Antion. Please indicate the source for reprint.