Hong Kong authorities said they will not lift the import ban on aquatic products from parts of Japan "too soon", saying they need to observe the impact of wastewater released from a nuclear power plant there on food safety.

Speaking at a press conference on Wednesday, the permanent secretary for environment and ecology, Vivian Lau, said the government has gazetted a food safety order that bans aquatic products from 10 Japanese prefectures from Thursday when Tokyo starts releasing wastewater from the tsunami-stricken Fukushima nuclear power plant.

Lau said a multi-department task force has been formed to evaluate the impact of the discharge of wastewater on food safety and formulate measures in response to the situation.

Starting Thursday, the Centre for Food Safety will make daily announcements of the radiation test results of aquatic products imported from Japan outside of those 10 prefectures. The Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department will publish radiation levels of catches here in Hong Kong, while the Observatory will monitor radioactive elements in local waters every month.

Lau said it's too early to say when officials will relax the ban, saying they need to consider data from Japan and Hong Kong to see if it's safe to do so.

"We do have experience in varying food safety orders before. After the Fukushima nuclear incident in 2011, there was a food safety order which was amended in 2018," she said.

"So we will make reference to our experience and the whole basket of factors... in considering whether there is a case to do so. But I don't think that will happen too soon."

Speaking at the same press conference the Controller of the Centre for Food Safety, Christine Wong, warned that it would be illegal to resell seafood from the 10 Japanese prefectures in the SAR.

"If there is a member of the public bringing in aquatic products from the 10 affected prefectures...we will work with Hong Kong Customs to investigate such cases. If there’s sufficient evidence proving that the import of the aquatic product is for commercial use, we will collect the evidence and pursue for prosecution." she said.
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Last updated: 2023-08-23 HKT 19:39