Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/11/14
By: Tai Ya-chen, Yiu Kao-hsiang, Chen Wei-ting and Evelyn Kao
Taipei, Nov. 14 (CNA) As the controversy surrounding the easing of a ban on food imports from five
The Executive Yuan’s Office of Food Safety Hsu Fu (許輔, CNA photo)
radiation-affected prefectures in Japan escalates, the head of the Executive Yuan’s Office of Food Safety Hsu Fu (許輔) said Monday that there is no timetable for lifting the ban.
The Cabinet held 10 public hearings on the issue between Nov. 12 and Nov. 14 in cities and counties across Taiwan that erupted into chaos due to protests and clashes as protesters voiced their concern that Japanese food that might be contaminated with radioactive substances might be allowed into Taiwan.
Some suspected that the government was holding the public hearings simply for lip service, to pave the way for a lifting of the five-year ban on produce from the prefectures that were affected by radiation after the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster.
Food imports from the Japanese prefectures of Fukushima, Ibaraki, Tochigi, Gunma and Chiba have been suspended in Taiwan since March 25, 2011 because of fear of radioactive contamination in those areas resulting from a meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. [FULL STORY]
