PH bans Japan milk chocolates; global embargo widens

MANILA, Philippines—Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) Director Efren Nuestro Thursday said he had issued “verbal orders” banning Japanese chocolate milk products shipped to the Philippines after the March 11 earthquake, as more countries shunned food imports from quake-hit Japan.

Russia, Australia, Canada and Singapore were the latest to join the list of countries which had banned Japanese food imports as radioactive steam wafted anew from the crippled Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Station, stoking global anxiety.

A formal order “is being drafted” canceling a previous clearance for the import of Japanese chocolate milk products, Nuestro told the Inquirer.

“We will recall the veterinary quarantine clearance for chocolate milk products that were shipped into the Philippines after March 11,” Nuestro said.

The BAI and the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR)—both under the Department of Agriculture—said they would screen animal-based products from Japan for abnormal radiation levels and recommend the suspension of the importation of suspect items.

Nuestro said food items that were in market shelves before the earthquake were safe to eat. The Philippines does not import meat, like beef, from Japan, he said.

Mackerel

BFAR Director Malcolm Sarmiento said the government also would conduct random sampling of mackerel from Japan to determine if they have a high radioactivity level.

Sarmiento said the Philippines imported 4,000 tons of mackerel from Japan last year for food processing.

Philippine customs authorities were also keeping a close watch on any imports from areas of Japan that were close to the stricken nuclear plant, Rico Capulong, quarantine officer at the port of Manila, told Agence France-Presse.

“Not all parts of Japan were affected. There are certain areas that we are concentrating on,” Capulong said. Any product coming from those areas would be tested for radiation, he said.

The Philippines exports more food to Japan than it imports. Most of the products the Philippines buys from Japan are manufactured items, such as noodles and tea.

Seafood, seaweed

The United States and Hong Kong have already restricted the importation of Japanese food, and France wants the European Union to do the same.

Russia ordered a halt to food imports from four prefectures near the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant, 250 kilometers northeast of Tokyo.

Australia also banned produce from the area, including seaweed and seafood, milk, dairy products, fresh fruit and vegetables.

But Australia said that Japanese food already on store shelves was safe, as it had been shipped before the quake, and that “the risk of Australian consumers being exposed to radionuclides in food imported from Japan is negligible.”

Singapore also suspended imports of milk products and other foodstuffs from the same four prefectures—Fukushima, Gunma, Ibaraki and Tochigi.

Canada implemented enhanced import controls on products from the four prefectures.

Right actions

“Food safety issues are an additional dimension of the emergency,” three UN agencies said in a joint statement issued in Geneva, pledging they were “committed to mobilizing their knowledge and expertise” to help Japan.

Japan was taking the right action, said the International Atomic Energy Agency, World Health Organization, and the Food and Agriculture Organization.

“Food monitoring is being implemented, measurements of radioactivity in food are taking place and the results are being communicated publicly,” the three agencies added.

The anxiety was compounded by the Japanese government’s revelation on Wednesday that radioactive iodine in the drinking water was more than twice the level deemed safe for infants, although it remained within safe adult limits.

Contaminated veggies

The Japanese government has also halted shipments of untreated milk and vegetables from Fukushima and three adjoining prefectures, and stepped up radiation monitoring at another six, covering an area that borders Tokyo.

The health ministry has detected 82,000 becquerels of radioactive caesium—164 times the safe limit—in the green vegetable kukitachina, and elevated levels in another 10 vegetables, including cabbage and turnips. With a report from Agence France-Presse