Average 30,000 Tons of Imported Japanese Seafood Annually... "Focus on Manpower and Strengthen Crackdown"
[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jun-yi] As the Japanese government decided to discharge contaminated water from the Fukushima nuclear power plant into the ocean, the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries is reportedly considering a plan to conduct thorough inspections of imported seafood products from Japan.
On the 13th, a Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries official stated in an interview with Yonhap News Agency, "We are currently focusing the origin control efforts, which are applied to 17 imported seafood items, on Japanese seafood and are considering a plan to conduct 100% thorough inspections of Japanese seafood."
The Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries currently manages the distribution history of 17 major imported seafood items through the National Fishery Products Quality Management Service (NFQS) under its jurisdiction. Among these, Japanese products such as scallops and sea bream amount to an average of 30,000 tons per year, with 21,000 tons of these items having managed distribution histories. This corresponds to 70% of all imported seafood from Japan.
The ministry is reportedly considering deploying all approximately 140 personnel currently engaged in origin control to focus exclusively on Japanese seafood origin inspections, as well as strengthening origin control of Japanese seafood in cooperation with local governments and private companies.
Meanwhile, since the Fukushima nuclear accident in 2011, the government has banned the import of all seafood products from eight prefectures near Fukushima and 27 agricultural products from 14 prefectures.
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