Premier Mao Chi-kuo today ordered government agencies to remove from stores all food products illegally imported from areas of Japan that were affected by the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) under the Ministry of Health and Welfare (MOHW) last month discovered from customs inspection reports that banned food imports from five radiation-hit Japanese prefectures had made their way into Taiwan. After expanding their investigation into product labels, officials promptly began tracking down the items for removal.
Regarding product labeling, the MOHW was instructed to sort out the issue with importers as quickly as possible so as to ease consumer concerns and establish the grounds for follow-up matters. As for radiation testing, the Atomic Energy Council (AEC) was asked to speed up its procedures and to disclose not only the results but also methods and related information.
Although the government cracked the case on its own, the MOHW should still examine the time lag from discovery of the irregularity to investigation and release of the findings. Ensuring the health of citizens should be of the highest concern, noted the premier.
According to the MOHW, of the 3,000 products inspected as of today, 294 were suspected to have originated from the five radiation-affected prefectures. A total of 104.4 tonnes of questionable products were seized, and downstream businesses were required to immediately take these problematic food items off their shelves.
As of this morning, 333 of the 365 products sent to the AEC for testing had been found to contain no radioactive residue. The FDA will continue checking the origins of imported Japanese products, sealing and removing banned products from stores, and seeing to it that they are recalled, destroyed or sent back to Japan.
To enhance border control, the MOHW said the companies involved in this scandal are being subject to batch-by-batch inspection of their products. Airport and harbor authorities have also been ordered to tighten up inspections over the origins of other imported Japanese products. The ministry is also mulling the idea of requiring Japanese food imports to be accompanied by a Japan government-issued certificate of origin.