THAILAND: Authorities step up checks on food imports from Japan as nuclear crisis worsens

Record ID: 464136

  • Title: THAILAND: Authorities step up checks on food imports from Japan as nuclear crisis worsens
  • Date: 30th March 2011
  • Summary: MONITOR SHOWS LEVEL OF RADIATION IN CARGO VARIOUS COMPUTER MONITOR SHOWING CONTAINER X-RAY
  • Embargoed: 14th April 2011 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Thailand, Thailand
  • Country: Thailand
  • Topics: Health
  • Reuters ID: LVA2KHM9C8UCN6E9NFBEZAGDRK3W
  • Story Text: Thailand's Food and Drug Administration (FDA) intensified random sampling of imported food from Japan, following reports of worsening radiation leaks from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.
    An FDA team on Tuesday (March 29) arrived at a cargo warehouse on the outskirts of Bangkok to randomly collect samples of imported fish from Japan that arrived by sea.
    The 21-tonne shipment of fish left Japan in the middle of March and arrived in port in Bangkok during the weekend. The FDA ordered it to be held for checks before the fish is allowed to go go market.
    The FDA says that due to the nuclear power plant crisis worsening, the authority orders every imported item from Japan be held for checks for radiation contamination.
    "We will only allow food importers to sell their products when they (have) passed our examination. If they don't pass our examination, the products will need to be seized and eliminated. It depends on the kind of radiation contamination in the product," said Charnchai Uachaikul, director of Thailand's FDA.
    The public health authority said they found contamination on Monday (March 28) in a shipment of imported Japanese potato. The shipment has been seized and will be destroyed even though the level of contamination was not considered unsafe to humans.
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