March 29, 2011

South Korea to test radiation levels on Japanese fish, meat

South Korea will perform thorough inspections on all Japanese fishery and meat products for radiation contamination for the public's safety, the government said Monday (Mar 28).

The Ministry for Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries said every shipment of such products as eels, pollack, saury and mackerel will be checked to see if they have been contaminated.

"If higher than permissible levels of radiation are found, imported shipments will be destroyed or sent back to exporters. No contaminated products have been detected so far," it said.

Authorities have already checked all 27 fisheries and five meat import shipments brought in from Japan on Friday and found no problems.

The move follows growing public concerns about imported food after the Fukushima nuclear power station, 250 kilometres northeast of Tokyo, started to release radioactive materials on March 12. The power station with six reactors was hit hard by the record 9.0-magnitude quake and tsunami that rocked the northeastern part of Honshu on the previous day.

The ministry, meanwhile, has set up an emergency response team to oversee food imports and to establish guidelines to ensure no contaminated food products reach the market.

The government plans to keep regular tabs on all locally grown produce along the eastern coast, which lies closest to Japan, and near its four nuclear power plants, to see if radiation levels have risen compared to normal, the ministry said.

All data gathered will be released for public viewing, it added.