South Korean authorities will tighten inspections on Japanese food imports in response to consumer anxieties over radioactive contamination and exposure from the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster.

The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety said that as of Friday, it would double the number of safety tests on Japanese food products that have a history of being sent back on detections of radioactivity.

Korea has banned the import of fishery products from eight of Japan’s prefectures and 27 agricultural items from 14 prefectures since a devastating earthquake and tsunami struck Northeast Japan in 2011 and triggered a meltdown at three nuclear reactors in Fukushima.

As for all other food products, Seoul conducts a case-by-case inspection to see if they test positive in radioactive cesium or iodine.

If the food samples contain even the tiniest trace of radioactivity, Korea requires Japanese exporters to submit inspection reports on 17 additional radioactive fission products including plutonium, otherwise the products are instantly returned.

As Japan has never handed in the inspection reports, food with even low levels of radiation have all been sent back so that none is in circulation in Korea, the ministry said.

Authorities plan to go over the inspection studies over the past five years and double the sample frequency of Japanese food products that have a record of being returned for containing even small amounts of radiation.

Tests that have previously been held once for every 1kg of samples by manufacturing date would now be conducted twice.

The tightened controls would be applied to 17 items. They include 10 processed goods, including tea, chocolate, instant coffee and spices. Also on the list are blueberries, coffee and cardamom; food additives like mixed formulation and alkali noodle additives; and health supplements like zinc and bilberry extracts.

The ministry, however, was dismissive of calls to expand the ban to processed goods like in China and Taiwan, where import restrictions have been placed on all Japanese food products.

By Seo Jeong-won and Kim Hyo-jin

[ⓒ Pulse by Maeil Business Newspaper & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]