No Ban On Import Of Japanese Seafood To S’pore Following Fukushima Nuclear Wastewater Release

Singapore Doesn’t Ban Japanese Seafood After Fukushima Wastewater Release

On Thursday (24 Aug), Japan began releasing treated water from the Fukushima nuclear plant into the Pacific Ocean.

The announcement sparked an outcry from both local and international communities, who expressed concerns over food safety.

However, there are apparently no plans to ban the import of seafood from Japan to Singapore.

The Singapore Food Agency (SFA) said that it has been monitoring food imports from Japan closely, and the results have been “satisfactory”.

Other countries ban seafood imports from Japan

According to the BBC, a United Nations (UN) watchdog approved the plan to release treated wastewater from the Fukushima nuclear plant into the Pacific Ocean in early July.

Reuters reported that the release of wastewater started at 1.03pm local time on Thursday (24 Aug).

With over a million metric tons of treated water to be discarded, the entire process is expected to take about 30 years to complete.

Japanese authorities will continue monitoring the water release area and share weekly results beginning this Sunday (27 Aug).

The decision to release the wastewater has prompted nations like China to enact a ban on all seafood imports from the country.

South Korea, which has stopped importing seafood from eight Japanese prefectures since 2013, will keep the ban in place as well, Al Jazeera reported.

Singapore will not ban seafood from Japan

However, it appears that Singapore will not be following suit for now.

On 6 July, the SFA issued a media statement saying that since 2013, it has not found any radioactive contaminants in food imported from Japan.

The agency added that it “adopts a science-based risk assessment and management approach to food safety”.

“SFA periodically reviews food import conditions to ensure food safety, without unnecessarily impeding trade.”

The SFA lifted restrictions on approved food imports from Fukushima on 28 May 2021.

Since then, it has continued to monitor Japanese food imports closely, and the surveillance results have been “satisfactory”.

Furthermore, the SFA clarified that food imports from Japan made up just less than 1.5% of total imports to Singapore in the past decade.

Imports from the Fukushima prefecture are “insignificant”, making up less than 0.01% of total food imports last year.

That said, the SFA declared that it will keep a close watch on food imports from Japan.

This is to make sure that these imports comply with food safety requirements here.

“SFA will also continue to diversify our sources of commonly consumed food items to mitigate the impact of supply disruptions,” said the agency.

As of Friday (25 Aug), there still appears to be no indication of the SFA changing its stance.

Also read: Hong Kong Will Stop Importing Japanese Seafood Products If Tokyo Releases Nuclear Water Into Sea

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Featured image adapted from AXP Photography on Unsplash, for illustration purposes only.