July 21, 2011

Philippines lifts ban on Japanese dairy, feed products

The Philippine government has lifted the temporary ban it imposed against dairy and feed products imported from four prefectures affected by radiation in Japan.

Philippine agriculture officials said on Wednesday (Jul 20) that they have lifted the ban on imported dairy products and animal feeds from Japan after Tokyo's continuous monitoring indicated that products coming from the prefectures of Fukushima, Ibaraki, Tochigi, and Gunma showed no signs of increase of radionuclides in their products.

The Memorandum Order (MO) No. 14 issued by Agriculture Secretary Proceso J. Alcala, however, laid down conditions before dairy products and animal feed products from the prefectures of Fukushima and Ibaraki would be allowed to enter the Philippines.

"All applications for sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) import clearance for the importation of dairy and animal feed products from the prefectures of Fukushima and Ibaraki should be accompanied by results of laboratory examinations from the competent authority of Japan showing that the dairy products and animal feeds to be imported conform with the guidance levels for representative radionuclides in food," the memo order read.

Last March, the Philippines issued a ban against the importation of meat, dairy products, live animals and animal feed products from affected areas in Japan in March.

The ban was imposed following a report that the Great East Japan earthquake on March 11 resulted to a serious nuclear accident at the Fukushima Daichi Nuclear Power Plant which may have affected the radionuclide levels of food, water and the atmosphere.