Fukushima food cleared for sale in the UK

Produce from the region of nuclear disaster poses little risk to public, says FSA as it lifts radioactivity limits

‘Removing radioactivity limits would result in a negligible increase in dose and any associated risk to consumers’

FISH and vegetables from near the old Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan can be freely sold in Britain after the Food Standards Agency (FSA) scrapped a rule on radioactivity levels in produce.

Controls on a wide range of products, including baby food and breakfast cereals, were lifted several years ago but the FSA maintained tight restrictions on 23 farm products, including bamboo shoots and bracken. The agency has now decided to remove a threshold that limits Japanese imports containing more than 100 becquerels of radioactivity per kilogram.

The FSA said: “Our risk assessment shows that removing the maximum level of radiocaesium for food imported from Japan to the UK would result in a negligible increase in dose and any associated risk to consumers. Without specific import controls, the emphasis would fall on food businesses to ensure food is safe.”

Tesco and Waitrose said they had no immediate plans to introduce the items, which are already available in limited quantities at some specialist Japanese grocers.

Boris Johnson and Fumio Kishida, the Japanese leader, shared some popcorn from the region to mark the lifting of the remaining restrictions.

Meeting in London, the leaders confirmed a new defence agreement that will allow their forces to deploy together to carry out training, joint exercises and disaster relief activities.

Downing Street said that the Prime Minister “was pleased Great Britain would soon lift the remaining restrictions on Fukushima”.

The Fukushima nuclear disaster was the most severe nuclear accident since the Chernobyl disaster in 1986.

In 2011, active reactors at the Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in Okuma shut down their fission reactions when an earthquake and tsunami caused the power supply to fail. The Japanese government has enforced a strict regime on food from the prefecture ever since.

In 2019, the EU relaxed its import rules as part of a wide-ranging trade deal. Brussels scrapped the need for radiation inspection certificates, with the exception of certain fish products, mushrooms and wild vegetables. In exchange, the EU was allowed to sell limitless quantities of reduced tariff French champagne, foie gras, cognac and wine in Japan.

Britain agreed to mirror the regulations during the Brexit transition period.

The leaders also discussed the recent ballistic missile launch by North Korea. A No10 spokesman said: “The Prime Minister condemned the provocative actions and said the UK stood shoulderto-shoulder with Japan and our Indopacific allies.”

Mr Johnson said: “There is a direct read-across from the actions of autocratic, coercive powers in Europe to what may happen in East Asia. That’s why we want to work more closely together.

“As two great island democracies, and the third and fifth largest economies in the world, the UK and Japan are focused on driving growth, creating highly skilled jobs and ensuring we remain technology superpowers.

“The visit of prime minister Kishida will accelerate our close defence relationship and build on our trade partnership to boost major infrastructure projects across the country - supporting our levelling up agenda.”