TAIPEI, Taiwan — Two major chain stores Wednesday removed from their shelves food products believed to be from radiation-affected areas in Japan.
Muji removed two pre-cooked rice products totaling 638 packs after suspecting that they included soup from Tochigi Prefecture, one of the areas affected by the Fukushima nuclear disaster that hit Japan in 2011, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said.
Carrefour recalled a tomato stock product that was exported by Fukushima-based company, the Taipei’s Department of Health said, adding that the hypermart chain had started a thorough screening of all its Japanese imports.
The latest food scare comes in the wake of an FDA announcement earlier this week of a nation-wide recall of a fermented soybean product that came with a small package of soy sauce originating from a radiation-affected region of Japan.
The FDA said radiation detection tests conducted by the Atomic Energy Council showed that the soy sauce had not been contaminated by nuclear substances.
Food products from radiation-affected areas in Japan remain banned in Taiwan, despite the government’s bid to lift the ban. The FDA said it has stepped up efforts trying to block so-called “nuke food” from Japan.
A Carrefour public relations manager was cited by the Central News Agency as saying that the FDA informed the company a few days ago that some of the items in a batch of tomato stock imports were actually from Fukushima, although the place of origin for the entire batch was labelled as a non-radiation region.
The manager said that it must have been the Japanese exporter’s fault, but as a safety precaution, the entire batch of imports were removed from Carrefour’s store shelves.
The manager said Carrefour was also a “victim” of the false declaration by the upstream supplier, but the hypermart chain will still shoulder its fair share of responsibility.
The manager said that in fact all Japanese food imports must be examined by customs authorities, and the FDA’s closer watch will prevent any “opportunistic” practice by the importers.
FDA said Muji had alerted authorities about the problematic rice products after examining its inventory. Muji has also demanded its supplier verify the origin of the rice products, FDA said.
FDA said food vendors must examine their products from Japan, and they must stop selling and report to the authorities any items suspected of coming from radiation-affected areas.
Violators face a fine ranging from NT$30,000 (S$1,350) to NT$3 million according to the food safety law, FDA said.
