A Japanese seafood company this week took measures to assure its customers at Taiwanese shopping malls that its fresh seafood is safe to eat and untainted by the radiation emanating from nuclear reactors in Japan.
VP of PTC Nakajima Suisan (Taiwan) Co Chen Cheng-hsin said the firm’s seafood which is now on sale in stores was harvested in Japan prior to the tsunami and earthquake that struck the nation on 11 March. Since then, PTC Nakajima Suisan has ceased importing seafood from the country.
Regardless, Chen expects the company’s inventory to last for two more months. Once it runs out, PTC Nakajima Suisan will look at importing seafood products from the US, Canada or Australia.
The company currently operates stores in northern Taiwan at Pacific Sogo Department Store branches in Taipei, Chungli and Hsinchu, and also at department stores in Taipei and in the city of Kaohsiung in the south of the country, reports CNA.
Pacific Sogo and Shin Kong Mitsukoshi Department Store also made announcements this week assuring that their food products imported from Japan were brought in before the nuclear crisis began.
Meanwhile, after days of emergency radioactivity monitoring, China's State Oceanic Administration (SOA) has informed that the country’s waters remain free of radiation from Japan and that its seafood remains safe for human consumption, reports People's Daily Online.
The three-dimensional ocean current numerical forecast showed that the radioactive contaminants from the nuclear reactors in Fukushima will largely move southwards this week. The radiation should later reach the waters northeast of Tokyo and then flow into the Pacific Ocean, such that the radiation leak should not affect China in the short term.
Chinese officials added that they will demand that future Japanese food imports pass radiation detection tests run by the Department of Health to guarantee their safety.
Relatedly, China Marine Food Group Limited also addressed its stakeholders this week.
"Our supplies of raw fish and seafood come from the Taiwan Strait, which is located between Taiwan and Fujian Province, China and thus pose no threat of contamination,” clarified CEO and Chairman of China Marine, Pengfei Liu. “In addition, this area maintains a separate ocean current from those of the East Japan Sea (East Sea).”
“According to the nuclear radiation-monitoring station in Shanghai, large-scale and long-distance radiation spread is unlikely as the primary containment vessel and fuel rods in the nuclear plant in Japan were not damaged. Under the current circumstances, only those residents within 110 mi of the nuclear plant will be affected," he added.
