Govt probes possible breach of Japanese food ban
The Centre for Food Safety (CFS) said on Wednesday that it is currently investigating whether an importer has violated the latest ban on Japanese food by bringing in aquatic products from specific regions of Japan. The government issued an order to ban aquatic products from 10 Japanese prefectures if they are harvested, manufactured, processed or packed on or after August 24. The move came as Japan began discharging into the Pacific Ocean some of the 1.34 million tonnes of waste water that was collected at the Fukushima plant since a tsunami crippled the facility in 2011. "During an inspection of the food label of the concerned consignment of food imported from Japan, the CFS found a pack of Japanese sea bream fillet suspected to have been manufactured in Tokyo after the order was issued, and is thus suspected of breaching the relevant order," a spokesman for the centre said. The centre said the product is marked and sealed, and has not entered the market. It said in a statement that it would “continue to follow up on the incident and take appropriate action, including informing the Japanese authorities concerned of the incident”.