Hong Kong may ban Japan food imports if it dumps nuclear wastewater into ocean

Secretary for Environment and Ecology Tse Chin-wan on Thursday said the SAR government would consider banning the import of certain food products from Japan as the country planned to release contaminated water from the destroyed Fukushima nuclear power station.

Speaking at the Legco today, the environment chief said authorities would strengthen their control on imported food products from Japan and would make references to China’s relevant policies and risk assessment conducted by the International Atomic Energy Agency.

Tse said authorities would also step up its effort in information dissemination, announcing the test results on food products from Japan should the country commences the dumping.

The government laboratory has formulated new testing arrangements and has sufficient human resources to conduct the tests, he added.

Meanwhile, Anthony Li Ping-wai, deputy secretary of the Environment and Ecology Bureau, said the bureau had purchased HK$6 million worth of new testing equipment because of the event, with more equipment to be acquired in the future.

Li also noted that a joint government task force had called for multiple meetings on the matter, with the SAR government engaged in dialogues with authorities in Japan.