Tokyo's imported food radiation checks suspended since April

The Tokyo metropolitan government has not checked imported foods for radiation since April, citing differences in the safety standards for domestic products after the accident at the Fukushima No.1 nuclear power plant.

But since the suspension, the metropolitan government's four units of radiation check equipment have not been used even for domestic food examinations--and even when the nation was confronted with the pressing issue of locating cesium-contaminated beef this summer.

The Tokyo government started checking imported foods for radiation shortly after the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear accident.

However, after the nuclear accident started at the Fukushima plant in March, the central government set provisional safety standards for domestically produced foods, including meats and vegetables, at 500 becquerels of radioactive cesium per kilogram. The figure is 130 becquerels higher than the 370-becquerel standards for imported foods.

"We would not know how to deal with this issue if we found an imported food containing radiation levels between the two standards," a Tokyo government official in charge of this matter said.

If a food item with 400 becquerels of radioactive cesium was detected, it would be allowed to stay in the market if it was produced in Japan. But it would be recalled if it had been imported.

This could cause serious confusion among consumers, the government official said.

In conducting radiation checks on imported foods, the central government picks particular items and production sites, while the municipal government randomly selects from a variety of foods in markets and similar places for wider coverage.

In fiscal 2009, the Tokyo government checked 616 imported items, including vegetables, meats and mushrooms. French blueberry jam was detected with radiation levels above safety standards.