Fukushima discharge will trigger wider seafood ban: HK
The environment and ecology minister, Tse Chin-wan, said on Wednesday that sea product imports from 10 Japanese prefectures will be banned immediately, once Tokyo starts discharging treated radioactive water into the ocean. Tse was speaking after a meeting with Japanese consul-general Kenichi Okada in Hong Kong over Japan's plan to release wastewater from the Fukushima nuclear plant that was crippled by a tsunami in 2011. Tse said a blanket ban on all sea products from the 10 prefectures is a precautionary move to ensure food safety and public health as the discharge is unprecedented and the impact on the environment could be irreversible. "If we see the situation is okay and the food is safe to consume, we will consider relaxing the ban. But when that will happen will be determined by actual data," he said The 10 prefectures are Fukushima, Tokyo, Chiba, Tochigi, Ibaraki, Gunma, Miyagi, Niigata, Nagano and Saitama. The ban covers all live, chilled, frozen and dried sea products, sea salt and seaweeds. Existing bans or radiation certificate requirements on imports from Fukushima and four other prefectures will continue to stay.