New Radiation Inspection Controls Added for Fertilizer, Pet Food and Juvenile Eel Imports from Five Fukushima Prefectures

After imposing border radiation control measures on feed and high-graft pear scions, the Council of Agriculture today (the 1st) again pre-announced and announced radiation management measures for three additional product categories: fertilizer, juvenile eels and pet food. For fertilizer imported from the five Fukushima prefectures, the radiation standard is "not detectable"; the radiation inspection standard for juvenile eels is a maximum of 100 becquerels per kilogram for iodine-131 and a maximum combined content of 100 becquerels per kilogram for cesium-134 and cesium-137; the radiation standard for pet food is a maximum combined content of 600 becquerels per kilogram for cesium-134 and cesium-137.

The radiation control measures for fertilizer and juvenile eels were announced and implemented on August 1; pet food was pre-announced to the public for 60 days on August 3. In the future, if feed, high-graft pear scions, fertilizer, juvenile eels or pet food are imported from the five Fukushima prefectures of Fukushima, Ibaraki, Tochigi, Gunma and Chiba, the Council of Agriculture must be notified, and batch-by-batch sampling inspection will be conducted at customs; import will be permitted only after the sampling results are confirmed to be compliant, and fast-track customs clearance may no longer be used.

Three New Radiation Control Measures Added for Fertilizer, Juvenile Eels and Pet Feed

"After the Fukushima nuclear disaster occurred, the Council of Agriculture had already carried out border radiation inspection controls on feed and high-graft pear scions," said Lin Chia-jung, deputy director of the Council of Agriculture's Department of International Affairs. So why add radiation control measures for three more categories now: fertilizer, juvenile eels and pet feed? What is the current situation regarding imports of these three products from the five Fukushima prefectures?

Lin explained that, as far as is known, domestically there are currently no imports of fertilizer, juvenile eels or pet feed from the five Fukushima prefectures; even feed and high-graft pear scions, which were already included in radiation control measures, have no record of import from the five Fukushima prefectures. "But in order to ensure the safety of domestic agricultural production, these radiation control categories were added this time." After all, the fact that there are no imports now does not mean there will never be imports in the future.

At present, pet food, fertilizer and juvenile eels have successively been pre-announced and announced for implementation on August 1 and August 3. The radiation standard for imported fertilizer is "not detectable"; the radiation inspection standard for juvenile eels is a maximum of 100 becquerels per kilogram for iodine-131 and a maximum combined content of 100 becquerels per kilogram for cesium-134 and cesium-137; the radiation standard for pet food is a maximum combined content of 600 becquerels per kilogram for cesium-134 and cesium-137.

Fertilizer Imports from Five Fukushima Prefectures Must Be "Not Detectable"; Pet Food Must Meet Residue Standards

First, regarding "fertilizer," which may affect domestic agricultural production, Lin Chia-jung explained that currently fertilizer imports only require a qualified fertilizer registration certificate, with no special exclusion of imports from the five Fukushima prefectures and no requirement for radiation certification. But after the border radiation control measure standards for fertilizer are added, in the future organic fertilizer registration certificates for the five Fukushima prefectures will have their customs clearance review certificate numbers cancelled, and clearance will instead be handled by manual comparison, along with batch-by-batch sampling for testing; only those that pass inspection may be sold.

As for "juvenile eels," Lin said that because Taiwan, China currently imports eel fry only from Japan for domestic farming, the juvenile eel radiation control category was specially added, with import radiation management for juvenile eels of a size of 11 to 500 fish per kilogram. "The inspection standard is a maximum of 100 becquerels per kilogram for iodine-131 and a maximum combined content of 100 becquerels per kilogram for cesium-134 and cesium-137." Moreover, the main prefectures from which Japanese juvenile eels are imported are not among the five Fukushima prefectures.

Regarding the radiation control measures for "pet food," Lin Chia-jung explained, "In the past, pet food imports all had to pass quarantine inspection, but radiation was not tested." Now, with the added pet food radiation standard, the standard is set as "a maximum combined content of 600 becquerels per kilogram for cesium-134 and cesium-137." If pet food is imported from the five Fukushima prefectures, before import it must be declared in writing batch by batch to the Council of Agriculture and submitted for inspection; anything exceeding the standard will be destroyed and may not be sold.

But Lin emphasized that, as far as is known, the five Japanese pet food factories currently approved for import are all not from the five Fukushima prefectures.

Feed and High-Graft Pear Scions Already Included in Radiation Control Categories

As for the current inspection status of feed and high-graft pear scions, which were already listed as import radiation control categories, Lin Chia-jung said that since the 100th year of the Republic of China, radiation inspection results for Japanese feed products have all been "not detected," and there have been no feed products imported from the five Fukushima prefectures.

As for high-graft pear scions, Lin said that imports of high-graft pear scions must go through an application, and the Council of Agriculture holds a "Pear Scion Import Review Meeting" every year. If farmers' groups apply to import pear scions from the five prefectures including Fukushima, the application will not be approved; however, since the import review meeting has been carried out to date, no import applications for high-graft pear scions from the five Fukushima prefectures have been received, "because the five Fukushima prefectures are also not a major pear-producing area in Japan."

Why Add Standards Now? Council of Agriculture: Citizen Groups Recommended Strengthening Controls

But after asking one by one, domestically there are no imports from Japan's five Fukushima prefectures of high-graft pear scions, feed, fertilizer, eel fry or pet food. So why specially add radiation control standards for fertilizer, eel fry and pet food this time? Are there no other more urgent categories for which radiation control standards need to be set?

Lin Chia-jung said, "The fact that there are no imports now does not mean there will be no imports in the future." Because at several recent symposiums with citizen groups, citizen groups pointed out that the Council of Agriculture, as the competent authority for agriculture, should safeguard the safety of domestic agricultural production, radiation controls were therefore carried out for the above categories that may affect the safety of domestic agricultural production.

(The lead image is for illustrative purposes: photo credit: ♡✌ Kᵉⁿ Lᵃⁿᵉ ✌♡ Phoebe via photopin (license))